Codorníu

The family's winemaking roots stretch back even further. Documents from 1551 show the Codorníu family already owned presses and barrels in the same Catalan town where production continues today. Eighteen generations later, they remain one of Spain's largest cava producers.

Their cellars tell their own story. Designed in 1915 by modernist architect Josep Puig i Cadafalch, a contemporary of Gaudí, the buildings earned the nickname "Cava Cathedral." King Juan Carlos I declared them a National Monument of Historical and Artistic Interest in 1976.

Codorníu Zero represents their entry into alcohol-free sparkling wine. Made from Chardonnay and Xarel·lo grapes, the wine undergoes vacuum distillation at low temperature to remove alcohol while preserving character. The result sits under 0.5% ABV with fine bubbles, apple and tropical fruit notes, and a fresh finish. A rosé version adds red fruit character to the range.

The approach differs from many alcohol-free sparklings that never contained alcohol at all. Starting with actual wine and carefully removing the alcohol tends to produce something closer to the original drinking experience. It is a method that rewards the producer's existing technical knowledge.

Codorníu Zero is stocked at Waitrose and Ocado in the UK, with wider availability across Europe and the US. Not the widest AF range on the market, but the winemaking pedigree behind it is hard to match.