People Who Drink Both: Wine and Alcohol-Free Drinks at the Same Table

Nine out of ten alcohol-free drinkers also drink alcohol.

That number complicates one of the most persistent assumptions about alcohol-free drinking: that there are people who drink and people who don't.

For many people, the line isn't nearly that clear.

Someone might order wine with dinner on Saturday and choose something alcohol-free during the week. They might open a bottle of each when friends come over. They might have a glass of wine with the first course and switch to something without alcohol afterward. The decision can change with the meal, the occasion, how they're feeling, or simply what sounds good at the time.

In other words, choosing an alcohol-free drink doesn't necessarily tell you very much about someone's relationship with wine.

Wine drinkers bring their expectations with them

People who drink wine have a well-developed frame of reference for what makes a drink satisfying.

Acidity brings freshness and helps a drink interact with food. Tannin creates grip and structure. Texture gives a drink weight and presence. Aromas and flavors unfold rather than arriving all at once. And balance determines whether those individual elements feel like parts of one thing.

None of that disappears because someone chooses not to have alcohol on a particular evening.

In fact, drinking both can make the differences more apparent. When you're accustomed to wine, sweetness alone isn't enough to create complexity. Fruit isn't the same thing as structure. A long list of ingredients doesn't necessarily translate into a drink that feels complete.

The expectation isn't that an alcohol-free drink should taste exactly like wine. It's that it should offer enough structure, balance, and complexity to be interesting on its own and alongside food.

The table doesn't have to choose sides

Wine has always been part of hospitality. We open bottles for dinner, bring them to a friend's house, choose them for particular dishes, and put them in the middle of the table to share.

Alcohol-free drinks can occupy that same kind of space without competing with wine for it.

A dinner table can hold a bottle of Burgundy and something alcohol-free. One guest may choose one, another may choose the other, and someone else may drink both over the course of the evening.

That's a different way of thinking about alcohol-free drinking. Instead of organizing people according to whether they drink alcohol, we can simply offer more choices for how they want to drink at that particular moment.

Another bottle for the table

Faux was created with that kind of table in mind.

I use verjus, wine grapes, fruit, and botanicals to build acidity, structure, texture, and complexity without trying to imitate wine exactly. The goal is a drink with its own character that can be poured into a wine glass, enjoyed over the course of a meal, and considered alongside what you're eating.

Not because wine needs to be replaced.

Sometimes wine is exactly what you want.

And sometimes it isn't.

The same person can mean both.