Non-Alcoholic WinePlus and MinusPlus & Minus Premium Shiraz

February 24, 2022by Jonathan Lambrianidis

I know what you’re thinking, this Plus + Minus Premium Shiraz Review is going to be another non-alcoholic wine review about an overly sweet, grape juice filled lolly water. Well believe me, I’m as surprised as you to know that this wine hasn’t got an ounce of sweetness about it!

The Plus & Minus Premium Shiraz scores a 7.3/10 as it is the first non-alcoholic wine that does away with the typical alcohol free wine sweetness whist bringing flavours of blackberry & cherry whilst bringing body & weight in the glass making it the first wine to start appealing to wine drinkers.

Key Takeaways

Alcohol By Volume

< 0.5%

Style

Wine: Shiraz

Calories per 125ml serve

16.5 calories

Main Notes

Blackberry. Cherry.

Cost

$25 / bottle.

Rating

7.3 / 10

Drink Again?

Yes

Where to Buy

AU

 

READ THE FULL REVIEW DOWN BELOW

Things to Consider Alcohol Free Wine

Like I said at the top, you’d be forgiven for thinking the Plus & Minus Premium review would be the feature of yet another alcohol-free wine review that talked about a sweet juice like ‘drink’.

But here is some good (and well overdue) news, the sweetness you’re unfortunately used to – it is completely gone! Sceptical? That’s fair, but before we get on to what you’re going to find in each glass let’s sit down and chat quickly about the biggest difference between traditional wine and non-alcoholic wine.

If you’re new to non-alcoholic wine it is important to talk about one of the things that non-alcoholic wine is not. The biggest thing to remember when you are going into a glass of alcohol-free wine is that the lack of alcohol means, your wine won’t have the heat, burn and power that comes with alcoholic wine and the process of removing alcohol will also naturally take some of the traditional wine flavours with it.

What I Like

Things to Consider

That ‘young wine’ like vibrance, earthiness and the light tannins in the finish.

As you would expect, you’re not going to get the full depth of flavour and weight of alcoholic wine.

The fact that all the sweetness is gone.

The body of flavour may be a little thin for those expecting a really big flavoured Shiraz.

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Plus & Minus Premium Shiraz Taste

Now to move on to what you’re going to find in each glass. You’re going to find a rich and velvety deep purple to burgundy wine that looks like it is worthy of the shiraz title. When tasting you’re going to find:

  • a wine that has been totally eradicated from sweetness and that ‘strawberry gum’ like flavour that some non-alcoholic red wines are known for.
  • Dark fruits of blackberries and cherry.
  • Hints of spice through the body.
  • A balance of crisp vibrance you’d expect from a young wine that is also surprisingly smooth soft and weighted (more on bodyweight down below).
  • Tart and light tannins to finish.

Keep an eye out for the tartness in the finish as it may not be to everyone’s taste and a little out of place if you’re particularly sensitive to it.

Key Tip: is that this wine improved the longer it went opened, I drank it the day it was opened and, after storing it in the fridge and letting it warm in my glass, on two consecutive days after that and it improved in flavour each day.

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Plus and Minus Premium Shiraz poured in Glass

What are the Body and Mouthfeel Like?

Non-alcoholic wine is not something that has got the greatest wrap for its body weight, however, I got through 4 glasses of my first bottle of the premium Plus and Minus without even remembering to think about the body.

The feel of the body in your moth is both weighted and full, which is a key differentiator to the other wines that are noted as being ones to try below.

So far as the body goes, it is a different take on bodyweight from the Wolfblass Zero which has a body focused on roundness and spiced, however, this also comes with some sweetness. The Plus & Minus on the other hand takes an approach of being vibrant, fresher and due to the lack of sweetness a little more linear in its approach.

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What Other Options Can I Try?

Looking at it in comparison to other non-alcoholic wines, it is best compared to the ‘less is more’ approach taken by non-alcoholic wines by Funky Monkey, who is the sister brand of Plus & Minus.

To help give you an idea of how the Plus & Minus Premium Shiraz differs from similar alternatives from Funky Monkey, take a look into the below reviews to see if you prefer the profiles of one over the other:

Alternatively, find out more about how Plus & Minus and Funky Monkey both come from the Fourth Wave Wines stable, in the write up I put together over here.

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Plus and Minus Premium Shiraz Bottle Hero

Who is the Plus & Minus Premium Shiraz for?

Reds are hard to really pinpoint a target market for as their taste profile and quality are still in the R&D phase and often only going to be ventured into by those who are needing to go alcohol-free.

The Shiraz in the Premium Plus & Minus range is taking great steps towards making non-alcoholic wine more mainstream. With its lack of sweetness, clean fruit and earthy vibe it will hopefully start to challenge the idea that all non-alcoholic red wine entirely misses the mark.

If you’ve been drinking non-alcoholic wine for any amount of time and feel like you’re yet to find a non-alcoholic red that does away with the dreaded sweetness, this is going to be your best buddy.

Now that the pesky sweetness has been eradicated you will find that it will go really well with food so reach for that veal scallopini, roast beef and vegetables or that deep rich vegetable stew and pour yourself a glass, this has the bravado to stand up against the flavour!

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Plus & Minus Premium Shiraz Stockists.

Like much of the rest of the alcohol-free wine range, the Plus & Minus Premium Shiraz has a great level of distribution through the Australian market. I currently understand global distribution is limited but I will keep you updated as or if this grows and changes.

Take a look at the links below to find yourself a bottle or two to try out!

Country

Retailer

Australia

Craft Zero

Sans Drinks

I’ll keep adding them as they come online

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Plus and Minus Premium Shiraz Bottle glass with wine in it

Plus & Minus Premium Shiraz Calories

The Plus and Minus Premium Shiraz contains 16.5 calories per 125ml serve that is made up of 3.1 grams of sugar and 3.4 grams of carbohydrate. Comparing this on an equal per 100ml basis (so you can compare to the other options I mention in my review of a bunch of non-alcoholic wines here), you’re going to find 2.5 grams of sugar and 2.7 grams of total carbohydrate per 100ml.

The full rundown is below in the detailed nutritional table.

Avg Quantity
Per Serving (125ml)

Avg Quantity
Per 100ml

Energy

69 kJ
16.5 Cal

55 kJ
13 Cal

Protein

<1 g

< 1 g

Fat, total

<1 g

< 1 g

— saturated

0 g

0 g

Carbohydrate

3.4 g

2.7 g

— sugars

3.1 g

2.5 g

Sodium

15 mg

12 mg

Resveratrol

100 mg

80 mg

Before you move on from nutrition, it is worth noting that the range from Plus and Minus are given a little extra nutritional nudge and they all contain some added antioxidant-rich grape skin extract (that is known as resveratrol). Get a bit of a rundown on Resveratrol over at Healthline here.

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Plus and Minus Premium Shiraz Bottle Nutrition Information

 

Is Plus & Minus Premium Shiraz Worth It?

The first wine to do away with sweetness, hold a reasonable amount of flavour and build in a great amount of body, I’m going to say it is definitely worth the bottle or two to see if your tastebuds align, which is far from almost every other non-alcoholic wine I’ve tried (bar the two or three I tend to talk about regularly).

You can see my rundown on the rating criteria of flavour, taste, body, nutrition and drinkability down below that all are pulled from the review above.

Flavour/Taste (40%)

Body (40%)

Nutrition (10%)

Drinkability (10%)

Total (100%)

RAW779831/40
ADJUSTED2.82.8.9.87.3/10

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The Round-Up: Final Thoughts

Non-alcoholic shiraz has typically suffered from sweetness overload and juice like reside you could see lingering on your glass. As we’ve spoken about this wine does away with that and shows the development that is currently being undertaken in the world of non-alcoholic wine.

This is a wine that is largely soft yet flavourful and carries with it characteristics of a traditional Shiraz.

Personally, this goes past the Wolfblass Zero Shiraz for me in terms of how it performs however due to the premiumisation of this Plus and Minus offering it is priced accordingly. Practically speaking, at $25 it is around double the price of the Wolfblass Zero.

Notwithstanding the price, I’d suggest shelling out the price of acquisition and seeing the exciting direction that non-alcoholic red wine is going.

Chapeau Plus and Minus this is a big step in getting people to consider and “think” about non-alcoholic wine more broadly.

Country

Retailer

Australia

Craft Zero

Sans Drinks

I’ll keep adding them as they come online

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by Jonathan Lambrianidis

Non-alcoholic drinks writer and podcaster, beer brewing and winemaking side-kick, lawyer and cyclist. Owner of Tipplezero.com and the Non-Alcoholic Drinks Podcast.