ZERONIMO is the new non-alcoholic premium wine brand from the award-winning Austrian family winery Heribert Bayer, which launched June 2023 and is managed by second generation winemaking couple Katja and Patrick . With their new and unconventional approach, they emerged as a pioneering force in the non-alcoholic premium wine market. Katja and Patrick were the first ever in the world to dealcoholize a wine of 98 pts. Venturing into uncharted territory, the team pushed the boundaries of innovation and crafted the highest-quality NA wines on the market.
With Katja´s and Patrick´s mission to make complex, rich, pure old world style wine flavors accessible to everyone, you can now dive into the fascinating world of wine with infinite possibilities. NA wines are no longer an alternative – they are a new category. ZERONIMO is the living proof that NA wines aren’t an ‘either or’ decision – it is about expanding the wine range, making the magical wine experience accessible, increasing social inclusivity and promoting the freedom of equal choices.
As of May 2024, ZERONIMO opened limited preorder in the US in partnership with one of America’s well known AF pioneers, Joshua James . Before the wines are nationwide available in the US ZERONIMO will be part of the June Showcase at Spirited Away in NCY – the first booze free bottle shop of America. On June 8 there is even an own ZERONIMO tasting at Spirited Away.
It was 2018 when Katja and Patrick started working together that Katja first had the idea to create a NA wine. Three years later, she was pregnant and craving a rich and flavorful NA wine. So they got deeper involvement in the topic of NA wines. After their blind tasting of different NA red wines from all around the world, none of them met their standards. They especially missed the dry, complex aromas of red wine,he tannins, and nothing was really coming close So, they wondered, “Can it be done differently?”
That was the moment when Katja got Patrick’s winemaker heart to start beating for NA wines. With their belief that excellent non-alcoholic wines can only stem from excellent alcoholic wines, they embarked on their first dealcoholization test of their most popular and best rated red wine, In Signo Leonis, which was recently awarded 98 Falstaff pts. They were sure: if their best red wine dealcoholized didn’t taste good, nothing would. When they then reached out to AF and dealcoholization experts in Europe and asked how a premium wine would taste after dealcoholization, nobody could give them an answer -because it had never been done before. Katja and Patrick took up the challenge, and never looked back.
The first test was fine, and proved it could be done! But it needed more tweaks. With desire, patience, passion and dedication, and through trial and error, they cracked the code after a year of testing. ZERONIMO was born.
Katja and Patrick – the founders of ZERONIMO – are a winemaking couple, running the award-winning Austrian family winery Heribert Bayer, that is well known for its outstanding red wines out of the Austrian native variety Blaufränkisch. They have been working together for six years and love to leverage their diverse areas of expertise and different approaches to business strategy to complement one another. This was the perfect foundation for ZERONIMO.
Patrick has been crafting wine for over 20 years now, and took over the winery Heribert Bayer from his father at the age of 23. He created his first wine at the age of 18 – a top Blaufränkisch called In Signo Sagittarii that is the best Blaufränkisch in Austria. Patrick learnedmost of his wine knowledge and crafting excellence from his father Heribert Bayer who is a pioneer of Austrian red wine, – the first person to introduce malolactic fermentation and oaking of Austrian red wine in the mid 80s. Patrick’s uncompromising wine crafting philosophy is one of a kind and certainly a key reason for the new approach of crafting NA wines from the best wine and nothing else. Even if Patrick could sell billions of wine by following a certain tasting profile, he would never do so if the wine doesn’t suit his pallet. The wines Patrick creates are rich in character, consistent and do not follow any trends
“I adore wines with character – those wines you always remember – that show the winemaker’s signature while also reflecting the nuances of the vintage, grape varieties, and terroir.”
Before Katja worked in the wine industry, she gained marketing and product management experience at corporations such as Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. While working for a major European advertisement agency, she suddenly fell in love with a winemaker. Shortly after, she fell in love with his matured Blaufränkisch In Signo Sagittarii, that motivated her to dive deeper and deeper into the wine world. Since then, Katja has been inspiring Patrick to create new wines and ideas. Many of those spring out of her own desires or desires that she observes around her. Katja is very creative, always searching for better solution and has a talent for forecasting trends. If she believes and has a vision for something, she doesn’t give up and is very insistent. Her branding, marketing and product management expertise have played a key role in the success journey of ZERONIMO.
“For me, making the wine world accessible to everyone was always of great importance. When I than also experienced what it was like to not have compelling wines to pair, I knew we need to change this.”
With the rising popularity of their new product, Katja and Patrick saw great potential to meet the desires of non-alcoholic drinkers and wine lovers in the U.S. So they reached out to major American AF leaders and pioneers to let them taste the ZERONIMO wines. One of them was Joshua James, pioneering NA thought leader and owner of Ocean Beach Café – San Francisco’s NA Bar + Bottle Shop.. After tasting the ZERONIMO wines, he immediately knew that his mission of finding the best AF wine in the world had come to an end – and he was excited to share it with the masses. Since then, Josh has been part of the ZERONIMO family and is responsible for importing and distributing ZERONIMO in the US.
"Everyone knows that good NA wine in the US is extremely hard to find. I made it my primary mission to find the best dealcoholized wine in the world in 2020. Katja and Patrick from ZERONIMO have done it! ZERONIMO Leonis Blend and ZERONIMO Sparkling Select are by far and away the best dealcoholized wines I have tasted in the last 4 years of actively searching”.
In late 2019, Joshua, a seasoned bartender, embarked on a transformative journey, taking a year off from alcohol to explore its impact on his life. This pivotal decision, motivated by a desire to live without hangovers, led to the creation of a unique destination in San Francisco: Ocean Beach Cafe & Non-Alcoholic Bar.
His commitment to offering innovative and delicious alternatives has redefined the AF experience, making Ocean Beach Cafe a leader in the industry. Additionally Joshua’s passion for non alcoholic wine and beer led Ocean Beach Cafe to have one of the best selections of its kind in both categories.
As Ocean Beach Cafe continues to thrive, Joshua remains committed to leading the non-alcoholic movement, offering a space where everyone can enjoy the social atmosphere of a bar without the alcohol. His dedication offering the best selections on the market have gone now beyond Ocean Beach Cafe and led to the decision of establishing Ocean Beach Brands, where ZERONIMO is the first brand to be featured.
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