A bubbly meeting with champagne expert Richard Juhlin

Champagne expert Richard Juhlin is known worldwide for his knowledge of champagne. Over the years, he has tried several champagnes and felt that they lacked a non-alcoholic alternative, which was the upstart of Richard Juhlin Blanc de Blanc’s non-alcoholic.

Richard Juhlin, one of the world’s leading champagne experts, has tried and judged several champagnes over the years. He has travelled around the world giving lectures on champagne and sharing his knowledge all over the globe. Today he is considered the best in his field, namely champagne.

When Richard was eight years old, he understood that drinking was something that he would be doing in the future. When he and his parents visited the Moselle Valley and based on facts about soil, hills and grapes were able to spot four different wines at a blind tasting, his interest was aroused.

”I remembered thinking, oh, that wine was so good and could taste so different,” Richard says.

Since his parents were interested in wine, it was easy for him to keep his interest alive. As the years passed where he had the opportunity to try different wines, primarily wines from the Moselle Valley.

A few years later, while on vacation with a friend in the Canary Islands, he had the opportunity to try cava, and was completely sold.

”It was so fresh and we didn’t get a hangover.”

This drink became the gateway to something bigger, namely champagne. In the past, Richard has only drunk champagne and wines with alcohol in them.

”I have never believed it, nor thought it has been good. Then I’d instead drink juice or soda,” continues Richard. It wasn’t until his wife Ragni was pregnant and they were out at various events and wanted to take the car that he discovered there were too few non-alcoholic options. And when he was in Singapore holding a tasting with dinner to a large number of Chinese with wives, there were some at the table who fainted after half a glass, even though there were 30 people in a bottle. As Asians lack enzymes and have difficulty dealing with alcohol, he thought he should invest in making a non-alcoholic bubble. Even Arab countries are very restrictive of alcohol, so when he got in touch with Moa Gürbüzer at MRG Wines Sweden, who was then in Turkey, the idea was born. Through his travels around the world, he has found that it is often not socially acceptable to abstain from alcohol. But Moa stood her ground and wanted a heavy name that was behind a non-alcoholic alternative, after which Richard was contacted and they had a meeting. At the meeting, Richard says;

”I’m sceptical it can succeed, so we’ll hold off on putting my name on it before it’s good enough. But it will come at a cost.”

Two non-alcoholic bubbly

First, Richard contacted the Champagne region, but they said no considering that champagne from Champagne must have at least an alcohol content of 11.5%, so he instead started chasing suppliers in the south of France. When Richard found a supplier, he asked for samples and tested different mixtures with alcohol. He strived for purity and freshness without two tones and got to grips with how the wine would taste without alcohol. In Frankfurt in Germany, they have a good method where they alternately heat the wine and then cool it down, which retains the wine’s original taste.- It was good timing as we moved towards a stronger health trend, where even pregnant girls could stand with a glass of bubbly without alcohol. So first Richard Juhlin Blanc de Blancs non-alcoholic was released. 0%, which is an elegant non-alcoholic sparkling wine with crunchy acidity, balanced freshness and notes of lime and green apples.

The wine is aged for a short time in small oak barrels and has since been de-alcoholized with a patented method that leaves behind the wine’s natural aromas and character.

”Blanc de Blancs is made from 100 percent chardonnay. It’s really good, if I may say so myself, and the fact that we’ve done so well has made me excited to realize further ideas,” explains Richard.

The wine is perfect for festive contexts, such as mingling and canapés, as well as seafood, salads, fish, poultry, chicken, roe, Salma lax and for lighter dishes.

Next in line was the rosé, released some years ago, which has also been highly appreciated with grapes from Limoux in the south of France. Richard likes to drink rosén for meat and beetroot with chevre and pine nuts and preferably also for mild creamy cheeses. - Feel free to drink both with a temperature of 9 degrees.

The wine is made with special technology and the drink contains no e-substances. The technology used is more gentle than what other manufacturers apply. Among other things, the wine is cooled down instead of being boiled up. In this way, much of the natural flavours in the wine are retained. The grapes are not crushed, but instead, they have carefully wallowed. This is also done to maintain the grape’s characteristic taste that is felt in the wine.

Richard has also made a Blanc de Noir as well as an anniversary blend to the Arab world, but only on a small scale. The jubilee blend is a Blanc de Blancs from better individual farms with the best grapes, where the price is € 100 per bottle.

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