Le Figaro: Dry January - We found the perfect drink to kick off 2025 right

The original version of this content is available in French on the Le Figaro website.

By Martin Lemaire

Published on January 2 at 07:30, updated on January 2 at 08:56

While some are starting their Dry January, i.e. a month of total sobriety,—here’s a truly delicious drink that stands apart from dealcoholized wines, which are often of limited interest.

As the saying goes, if you want something done right, do it yourself. Especially if your name is Matthew Jukes. A few years ago, when the wave of dealcoholized wines started to gain momentum, this renowned British taster and writer found himself in in a real pickle. People scolded him, implored him, begged him to lend his palate and take up his pen to highlight what he considered to be a substitute for wine. "I find it very bad. It’s always sweet or overly simplistic," he still says today, as alcohol-free wine options multiply in a booming market.

However, the topic of reducing wine consumption interests him. He, too, doesn’t necessarily want to drink with every meal. So, he decided to create a drink ex nihilo, tailored for all these new abstainers. But it wouldn’t be wine.

And so began the experiments, alone in his London kitchen. But how could he give a product without alcohol, the body and the extra touch of soul that most dealcoholized wines so desperately lack? “The mission was to offer a tasty experience,” he sums up. Like a true Brit, Matthew turned to apple cider vinegar. This choice was rather fortunate, as vinegar is now praised for its many virtues and is celebrated by contemporary wellness advocates. While he openly highlights the health benefits (blood sugar regulation, strengthened immune system, good digestion…), Matthew assures that he wanted to bring up to date an old recipe from the 18th century composed of a maceration of fruits and vegetables in vinegar, consumed by farmers who worked in the fields. To do this, he performs a cold maceration process before bottling or canning, significantly reducing the sugar content compared to the original recipe.

“The key is acidity”

And so, Jukes was born, offered either in small bottles to be diluted in a glass with still or sparkling water, or in ready-to-drink cans. “The key is acidity,” explains Matthew, who worked for many years with the Daily Mail. The lineup includes three memorable “cuvées” for wine lovers: a white, a rosé, and a red. While the first two play a fruity aromatic score that is quite common in the world of alcohol-free products, the “Jukes 6” (the red) stands out with its complex nose of black fruits, spices, and its intense mouth of wet earth that lingers on the palate.

A success hailed by being awarded the title of Best Non-Alcoholic Beverage in the World at the World Alcohol-Free Awards. “In wine, we look for complexity. With Jukes, we find it,” says Alexandre Bader, managing director of Billecart-Salmon, which exclusively distributes Jukes in France. Given the high regard the Aÿ-based champagne house has earned among enthusiasts in recent years, distribution has been smooth.

Jukes can now be found in Michelin-starred Parisian restaurants, like the always very cutting-edge David Toutain, in palaces like the Meurice, or in high places of liquid and solid gastronomy such as the Grande Épicerie de Paris.

And suddenly, this sober January feels shorter.