NON9 Oaked Blackberry & Plum

A Built, Not Stripped, Wine Alternative. NON9 Oaked Blackberry & Plum is one of six bottlings in NON's core range, alongside NON1 Salted Raspberry & Chamomile, NON2 Caramelised Pear & Kombu, NON3 Toasted Cinnamon & Yuzu, NON5 Lemon Marmalade & Hibiscus and NON7 Stewed Cherry & Coffee. Rather than dealcoholizing wine, NON builds its drinks from scratch using real ingredients and fine-dining kitchen techniques, structuring them around four flavour markers — fruit, tannin, salt and acid — to recreate a complex, wine-like experience. NON9 expresses this approach in a dark-fruited, oak-driven register, layering roasted fruit, red wine grape skin and French oak over a verjus acidity base.

Per the producer, the full ingredient list for NON9 Oaked Blackberry & Plum is: water, verjus, Stanley plum, beetroot, Shiraz grape skin, blackberry, fir pine, sugar, tamari, ancho chilli and French oak.^[1]

Verjus — Acidity Base. NON sources the verjus in NON9 from Viognier grapes grown in the Goulburn Valley, Australia, where it functions as the beverage's acidity component.^[2]

Stanley Plum & Beetroot — Roasted Fruit Sweetness. The plums and beetroots are roasted separately to intensify their sugars before being incorporated into the blend.^[2]

Blackberry — Dark-Fruit Pillar. A touch of raw sugar is added to the blackberries to balance their tartness.^[2]

Shiraz Grape Skin & French Oak — Tannin Structure. French oak and red wine skins are cooked at very high temperatures to extract maximum tannin, giving the drink its firm tannic structure.^[2]

Fir Pine — Forest-Floor Aroma. Fir pine needles contribute a forest floor aroma to the nose.^[2]

Tamari — Salinity. Gluten-free soy sauce (tamari) provides salinity and creates a moreish sensation.^[2]

Nose. NON describes a forest floor earthiness, with fir pine needles contributing that aroma.^[1]

Palate. The producer characterises NON9 as dark berries with firm tannins and a spiced finish.^[1]

Structure. ^[1]

• Tannin: Firm
• Other: Spiced finish

NON lists NON9 Oaked Blackberry & Plum as pairing well with steak, ragù and barbecued vegetables.^[2]

Specifications. NON9 Oaked Blackberry & Plum is classified as a still, non-alcoholic wine alternative. Its declared nutritional profile per 150 mL serving is as follows.^[2]

• Classification: Non-alcoholic wine alternative, still
• Energy: 51 calories (213 kJ) per 150 mL
• Total carbohydrates: 12.5 g per 150 mL
• Total sugars: 7.5 g per 150 mL
• Sodium: 75 mg per 150 mL

Production. NON9 is produced by NON at its purpose-built cooking facility in Melbourne, Australia, where culinary methods are used to extract flavour from natural ingredients. NON notes its beverages may exhibit natural sediment and slight variances in colour and profile owing to the use of natural ingredients.

Ingredients Policy. Each NON bottle is certified vegan and gluten-free and made from plant-based ingredients. NON9 uses gluten-free soy sauce (tamari) in keeping with that certification.