Riviera Dreams with Wilfred’s Non Alcoholic Aperitif

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A straw tray contains a bottle of Wilfred's aperitif, a bottle of sparkling rose alcohol free wine, and a glass with an orange drink in it. There are strawberries on the tray. The background looks like a summery deck.

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The spritz-style cocktail has become eponymous with glam summers all over North America with its slightly bitter effervescent booziness and iconic glassware. It offers a welcome detour from the usual and possibly hum-drum glass of wine with its approachable ingredients and European appeal. If you’re not a drinker, you don’t need to say bye-bye to your favourite spritz. There’s been a relative onslaught in the non alcoholic world of new aperitifs, digestifs, bitters and ready-made spritzers that can be used for a low-ABV cocktail or a zero-ABV cocktail with none the wiser.

A front-runner in the non alcoholic aperitifs category is the UK brand Wilfred’s. Launched by founder Chris Wilfred Hughes, the product is made in Britain and inspired by the flavours Hughes associates most with being British: the English rose and marmalade. Currently available in Canada through Dry Variety, Wilfred’s is a bottle worthy of your dry bar.

When Wilfred’s walks into a room, people pay attention. The bottle is presented with elegant high-end branding, using a colour palette of gold, orange, red and navy blue - a sardonic nod to the decadent, post-prohibition Art Deco era. One hopes this helps drinkers and non drinkers alike take Wilfred’s seriously.

The flavour is like none other in the non alcoholic world. It’s refreshingly bitter and herbal, with little to no sweetness. The label reads bitter orange, cloves, rosemary and rhubarb but upon tasting, neither one or the other overwhelms. Wilfred’s is a botanical blend of 100 ingredients that makes the perfect aperitif. The clove notes add a unique punch, and although the rhubarb is hardly discernible it’s a perfect accompaniment to the bitter orange notes.

Wilfred’s themselves suggest mixing it with tonic but North American tonic is almost too bitter for this combination. We find it goes down a treat mixed with non alcoholic sparkling wine for an easy zero-proof ‘aperol’ style spritz, or using a European-style tonic water like Harry’s.

We’re hoping our take on Wilfred’s will be the next drink craze, so move over Frose. This is the Some Good Clean drink of summer.

Cheers!

Riviera Dreams Non Alcoholic Wine Cooler

Ingredients

2 strawberries

2 oz Wilfred’s

¾ oz lemon juice

3 oz Non Alcoholic Rose wine (approx - not an exact science!)

Instructions

  1. Gently muddle the strawberries in a mixing glass or something other than the cocktail glass.

  2. Add in the rest of the ingredients and stir gently to combine. Strain into a tumbler filled with ice. Add sliced strawberries for garnish.

  3. **For a twist, use sparkling rose instead - adding it to the cocktail glass after straining the berries, Wilfred’s and lemon juice mixture in.

You can buy Wilfred’s direct from Dry Variety for $39.99. If you’re new to Dry Variety, you can get 10% off your first order if you sign up for their newsletter.

Cheers to summer and sipping on this mouthwatering libation!