A REVIEW: TREAD SOFTLY EVERYTHING EXCEPT PINOT NOIR
I wouldn’t normally post a review on here because I’m not sure that I have the right credentials to pull that off well. However I was overwhelmed by all the questions and a number of you asking for a review! So, here we are. I’m thinking that if you like this, I’ll make it a more regular occurrence. You may have seen my article on alcohol, if you haven’t here’s the short version. I’ve found myself a rather big fan of non-alcoholic drinks. Sure, every now and then (but it’s pretty rare if I’m honest) I’ll drink an alcoholic drink, but it’s for a special occasion. I find that sleep deprivation, two children under 5, my own biz, a robust meditation practice, it doesn’t leave much room for hangovers of any kind. I also love starting the day without the anxiety laced soundtrack that I’d become accustomed to. So, I am now in this space where I want to celebrate, to have a ritual (clearly, bougie) and it’s ended up with me on the hunt for all wonderful non-alcoholic drinks.
I’m going to start by saying non-alcoholic wine has come SO SO far. If there was a scale, it’d be off it! I remember the first few that I tried brought back childhood memories of sparkling grape juice in English beer gardens. Not unpleasant but not really the vibe that I was going for.
The first thing that you will notice about Tread Softly is that they have made a beautiful product (I hate to say it, but I’m a bit of a sucker for pretty marketing, and this delivers!). The bottle is gorgeous and there is an attention to detail that made me want this on display. It felt like I was in possession of a drink that wanted to be shown off. That wasn’t embarrassed or ashamed of what it was. I sometimes think that other non-alcoholics are to cater to a market rather than a celebration of customers that they’ve worked out need, no, deserve something a little special too!
I feel that it’s really important to state upfront that it is unfair to compare non-alcoholic wines to their alcoholic versions. By making it non-alcoholic you’re removing a certain something that I’ve yet to find replicated and I’m ok with this. I compared this to other non-alcoholic reds.
Right, I’ll get to where you want to be, the drink itself. It was a vibrant glass that had me pretty impressed. It even had a great waft of winey-ness that reassured me. I definitely could tell that there was a pinot noir hint in there. It was leagues ahead of many others that I’ve tried. Not sweet or reminiscent of ‘grape-tizer’ tangs that I often get with N-A (non-alcoholic - i’m shortening it to save a little time!) reds. It had a pleasant aftertaste that with the 2-3 mouthful had me forgetting that it was N-A. I will add that we were watching a wonderfully grippy British drama which hand filled with this rather bougie red zinger felt like old times! Not a bad weekend evening.
I’ll finish by saying that, you may be fully aware that you are drinking a N-A red with this, but it’s at the top of the pile for me. Ultimately knowing that I wasn’t going to wake up with a dusty head, snipping and sniping at the family and growling at the dog, it was a full hearted win! Utterly drinkable and will be happily stocked in my cabinet.
Have you tried Tread Softly yet? What are your thoughts?