Ti Amo: Colibri non-alcoholic spumante is an exquisite classic Italian beauty

Colibri Spumante, Italy, 97 points

The first time I tasted a great non-alcoholic spumante I was blown away. It was a few years ago, and I couldn’t quite believe something so great had come along. This same bottle has been at the top of the bestseller lists everywhere since then, but a new king of bubbles has come to dethrone it. I uncorked a bottle today that is going to change everything! In fact, it is such a great wine I actually yelled from my office “Oh my god, this is SO GOOD” and immediately texted all my friends in the non-alcoholic world. The bottle was Colibri Spumante and it’s an elegant, highly finessed non-alcoholic spumante made in Italy that you will absolutely want to get your hands on.

If you’re new to Italian wine, the term ‘spumante’ just means sparkling wine. If said sparkling wine is made in the Friuli-Venezia Guilia region of northeastern Italy, it can be called Prosecco (with a capital P!). Colibri Spumante is in fact grown, fermented, dealcoholized and bottled in the Friuli-Venezia Guilia region, but the age-old snobbery of the wine world applies here and it STILL can’t be called Prosecco because it doesn’t have alcohol in it. But…for all intents and purposes, this is a non-alcoholic prosecco and it’s absolutely incredible.

Colibri’s location in the heart of the Friuli-Venezia Guilia region means it’s in a unique environment with warm sea air meeting chilly higher altitude nights, and a diverse mineral-rich soil. It’s essentially the perfect terroir for wine.

While it has those natural assets going for it, Colibri is still taking wine making and dealcoholization very seriously. The winery has invested highly in things like biodiversity in the vineyard, organic certification and using solar energy. They pride themselves on developing their wines with care and gentleness, using the highest quality grapes.

And the clincher, they do all of their dealcoholization on-site using a gentle membrane filtration. This is unique in the non-alcoholic space, as a majority of wine brands harvest the grapes and ship them to a dealcoholization plant in another location. With a fragile substance like non-alcoholic wine, the less kms sloshing around in a tank on a truck, the better. The membrane filtration is also the most gentle and least invasive way to remove alcohol, and allows Colibri to develop non-alcoholic wine that retains its unique flavour and mouthfeel. When you have your first sip of their spumante, this becomes ever so clear!

Aroma

The wine is made from 100% Glera grapes, and on the nose, there are incredible aromas of green grass or hay and maybe a hint of my baking cupboard. It has a really nice nose for a dealcoholized wine, which can sometimes have a slight chemical odour.

Mouthfeel

The mouthfeel is so soft and super creamy, with nice crisp bubbles. It feels luxurious but with a clean simplicity, just like a classic Italian beauty.

Taste

On the palette, the flavour will absolutely blow you away. It’s so similar to an expensive spumante, it’s uncanny. There are juicy notes of apricot, peach and white stone fruit, married with a crisp acidity and a very soft almost nutty undertone on the finish. It’s crisp and fresh, while at the same time not tasting like green apples and lemons like every other non-alcoholic sparkling wine. It has an elegant simplicity, just like an Italian beauty.

What to pair with Colibri Spumante

This non-alcoholic sparkling wine is perfect as an aperitivo, and with the usual light party nibbles like creamy hors d'oeuvres and cheeses. I love drinking non-alcoholic sparkling wines with a main course, and don’t just relegate the bubbly stuff for special occasions. This non-alcoholic bubbly is soft enough and fulsome enough to be both a celebratory bottle, or just a great wine to pair with a lightly broiled or steamed white fish in sauce. You can’t go wrong popping the cork on this one!

Where to buy Colibri Spumante

US: tbd

Canada: You can find Colibri in Canada through shop.softcrush.com ($24)

How we score wines at Some Good Clean Fun:

95 to 100 - An excellent drink with a great personality. An example that stands out among its peers

90 to 94 - An accomplished drink with considerable personality, character and complexity. A classic example of its style or variety.

85 to 89 - A perfectly well-made drink which provides an enjoyable drinking experience.

80 to 84 - An acceptable but simple drink, lacking distinction.