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Bruno Marret is wine wholesaler who also specializes in corporate gift catalogues. He came up with the idea of trying to create a high quality, non-alcoholic wine.
He named it La Cote de Vincent -- a play on words in French. "You take the name Vincent and separate it and you get vin -- wine, and sans -- without."
Mr. Marret chose the German method -- which dates back to 1908 -- to remove the alcohol from the wine. "We freeze the wine at minus 30 degrees. This causes the various elements in the liquid, including the alcohol, to separate."
Mr. Marret took his wine to an alcohol-free restaurant for a tasting. Alain Fuchs is the owner of that restaurant. "People were curious. It's a new product. Everyone wanted to taste a glass of red or white and the sparkling Claymont. The white retained the taste of white wine. But the others did not really have a wine taste."
But some of his restaurant's patrons liked the wines' sweet tastes.
Another tasting was held at a well-known wine shop. Emmanuel Maire, a wine aficionado there, was not too impressed with any of the wines, though he said he might serve the rose to friends in the afternoon.
As with alcoholic wines, it is really a matter of personal taste.