ix900@sdccsu3.UUCP (07/11/83)
I have just purchased and consumed a 285ml bottle of something entirely new to me, nonalcoholic wine. For 49 cents, about the same as the cost of fruit juice, I got something called "Castella ROSELLE Alcohol Removed Wine," imported from Billabong Wines, Griffith, Australia (imported by Ian Brown, Berkeley, Calif. 94708). According to the ingredients list, this consists of "Wine from which alcohol has been removed" and Meta bisulphite as a preservative. Judging by taste and color, this Roselle started life as a rose'. It wasn't bad, actually: tasted about on par with any inexpensive rose', without the "bite" that the alcohol adds, drier than standard grape juice. I'm curious about this product. Has this been around for a while, or is this Australia's latest gift to civilization? How is the alcohol removed, by boiling or by some esoteric process? Would nonalcoholic wine contain considerably less nutritional value than grape juice? D. Sewell