I stopped drinking alcohol back at the end of 2019, purely because I wanted to see what life would be like. I didn’t have a problem with alcohol at all, I didn’t ever really drink to excess but just wanted to see if would make a difference to my life, my training and my relationships – but mostly my training.

It’s safe to say, I have never looked back. I do not need a drink to relax, I do not need a drink to be sociable or have a good time and I would definitely much rather use my calories for food than alcohol.

The only downside of being alcohol free is that I am occasionally judged by others, and have even been excluded from a couple of social events as “I wont enjoy it as I don’t drink!”. Its a minor downside as most of the people I choose to spend my time with are not judgemental but occasionally I come up against the “well, thats really boring” “go on, have one, you’ll have more fun” kinda nonsense that I know says more about the person saying these things, than about me but still, it can be tiresome.

While I do not like alcohol, I do love Beer – or rather the taste of beer so the recent explosion of alcohol free beer has made me very happy. The other drink I did really enjoy was a glass of red wine, as does my friend Kerry. Now, I say I like a glass of red wine, I think it’s safe to say that Kerry LOVES a glass of red wine, so when she was recently diagnosed with a brain tumour and told to stop drinking this was one of the things she struggled with. Life is tough enough right now without taking away one of her little pleasures in life.

The Forza Fitness Squad do what we do best. We rallied round and found a supportive solution. We decided to have a Non Alcoholic Red Wine Tasting as a few of us had bought a bottle here and there and no one has found anything good. Now though, we had a reason to get serious so we did.

Kerry did the research, did the buying (as, as she said herself, she has not a lot else to do right now) and she hosted, with the most gorgeous spread – yes, thats it in the featured image. We tried 5 different wines and here are the results of our tasting. We scored each wine out of 10 and yes, there was a clear winner we all agreed on.
*Please remember we are just a few women who like a glass of red wine occasionally, we are not wine connoisseurs by any means so these are not sophisticated tasting notes. This is just a brief bullet point rundown of our thoughts.

DC DeAlcoholised (£6) Shiraz
Felt and tasted like a Red Wine
Palatable and strong Shiraz flavour
*Denise was not a fan of this one hence the single low score, but also isn’t a huge red wine fan anyway (she was mainly along for the company and the chat!)
Scores: 9, 9, 9, 7.5, 3 Total: 37.5

Eisburg (£4) Cabernet Sauvignon
Again a good red wine taste and feel
A little thinner than the DC but as good as the more expensive options
A strong berry taste so again sweeter than the DC and the Merlot but not too sweet.
Scores: 7, 5, 5, 8, 7, Total: 32

Vintense (£10) Merlot
Generally tasted closer to a wine but still a little too thin
Also a bit too watery
A good Merlot flavour though.
Scores: 6, 5.5, 6, 7, 7, Total: 31.5

Carl Jung (£10) Cuvee Rot
Still a good red wine feel
Sweeter than the DC and Merlot. A little too sweet for two of us.
Scores: 5, 4, 7, 6, 8 Total: 30

WIN12 (£12) Tempranillo
Very strongly tastes of berries, and Kerry said also Chocolate.
Very thin
Very, very Sweet
*My personal thought on this one was that if you liked drinking this you might as well opt for a ribena, especially at £12 a bottle!
Scores: 2, 3, 3, 6, 6 Total: 20