Zerozzante Cuvée No.2 – red grapes – alcohol-free

Red grape juice made from pure Dornfelder

The Zerozzante Cuvée No.2 is a non-alcoholic red grape spritzer made from pure Dornfelder, cold-pressed and subsequently carbonated. It is not made from dealcoholized wine, but goes directly from the press into cold storage.

Zerozzante Cuvée No.2 red grapes is the dark one among the non-alcoholic fruit spritzers from the Raumland sparkling wine house in Flörsheim-Dalsheim, made from 100 percent Dornfelder. While the white Cuvée strikes the light note of summer fruit, this one reaches noticeably deeper and darker. Alcohol was never involved at any point.

Wild strawberry, red grape and a hint of vanilla tea

The red grape spritzer smells of freshly harvested red grapes and wild strawberries, with a warm trace of vanilla tea in the background.

On the palate, it is carried by a fruity sweetness, which is caught by a mild, well-integrated acidity and therefore never becomes cloying. The carbonation keeps the whole thing in motion and constantly pushes the dark berry fruit to the fore. Berry-like, juicy, and mildly tart, it sits in the glass with an aftertaste of freshly pressed grape must.

August Herold bred the Dornfelder in Weinsberg in 1955 and named it after Immanuel Dornfeld, the founder of the local viticulture school. Its dense color gives the spritzer exactly that deep red that a grape juice made from white berries would never provide.

For an evening with hearty food

Unlike its lighter sister, this Cuvée is aimed less at the lunch table and more at an evening with guests and long conversations.

Grilled vegetables and dark poultry complement it well, as does a board with hard cheese, olives, and air-dried ham. It pairs with desserts made of red berries instead of competing against their sweetness. At 8 to 10 degrees Celsius, it belongs in a wide-bowled glass because excessive cold literally causes its berry fruit to contract.

Once opened, the 750 ml bottle will last about three days in the refrigerator without losing its sparkle. If you serve it as an aperitif, pour small amounts and refill twice so that nothing in the glass becomes lukewarm. Incidentally, children get the same thing as the adults, which makes Sunday dinner much easier.

Cold-sterile bottling instead of pasteurization

The Dornfelder grapes grow in Rheinhessen, partly in the estate's own vineyards and partly at neighboring partner wineries. Only undamaged grapes are harvested, because a juice without heating immediately reacts badly to any bruised berry. For the fruit spritzers, the estate uses the "taille," i.e., the portion of the pressing that does not go into the large vintage sparkling wines.

Volker Raumland therefore does not let the must go into the fermentation tank, but instead transfers it, heavily chilled, into the cold-sterile bottling line, where the carbonation is added. The juice is not heated at any stage, because while heat extends shelf life, it flattens the fine berry aromatics.

The list of ingredients includes only grape juice, carbon dioxide, and 30 milligrams of vitamin C per liter. Volker has been running his sparkling wine house since 1984, and his daughters, Katharina and Marie-Luise, have been working with him since 2019. Hats off. You can find more beverages from Flörsheim-Dalsheim, the light grape spritzer, and many sparkling non-alcoholic alternatives on our site.