West Seattle entrepreneur Jess Selander says her brand of wine, Jøyus, is “the first premium alcohol-removed brand that not only tastes as amazing as alcoholic wine, it’s actually made by a non-drinker.” She says it’s a fulfillment of her dream “to make a non-alcoholic wine that tastes like wine and to change how we think about drinking.” This month is “Sober October,” so she is getting the word out about Jøyus, which has two varieties on the market – sparkling white wine and sparkling rosé, both available at Wildwood Market in Fauntleroy (9214 45th SW) and online at drinkjoyus.com. Selander says she first started pursuing this dream five years ago, but stalled because “the technology and processes were not great.” During the pandemic, she decided to give it another try. Though she and her business are based here, the wine is made in California: “The process starts with alcoholic wine, then the alcohol is gently removed, all while preserving the delicate flavors of the wine.” Jøyus wines are on the dry side, she adds, and that means low-calorie – 90 calories in an entire bottle. She has one more dream: “I’m not setting out to be the only premium non-alcoholic winery whose products actually taste like wine. I’m doing this to normalize non-drinking culturally. I dream of the day I can walk into any grocery store and pick up a couple of different bottles of great tasting non-alcoholic wines. I want to go to a party and find there’s already a bottle of non-alcoholic wine there. And that means people need variety.” (She’s working on getting Jøyus into a variety of additional retail outlets, too.)
West Seattle, Washington
21 Thursday
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