photo credit: Tina Caputo
Mocktails at Clif Family Winery in St. Helena.

Most visitors to California wine country are there to do just one thing: drink wine. But that’s starting to change.

U.S. consumers are increasingly swapping traditional drinks for nonalcoholic versions, and the sober travel industry is booming. In response, cocktail bars, restaurants and even wineries in regions like Napa and Sonoma are welcoming a new type of tourist – the sober-curious kind.

While alcohol-free bars and tastings have been popping up in major U.S. cities for years, this is a new phenomenon in wine country, and one that is likely to gain momentum in the coming years.

You can’t blame wineries for being concerned about the growing popularity of alcohol-free drinks. Wine is their livelihood, after all. But one local vintner is embracing the trend.

Linzi Gay is president at Clif Family Winery in St. Helena.

"Yes, wine is the pinnacle of what we do and at the epicenter of what we do, but it is not necessarily the only thing that's on offer here in the Napa Valley," Gay said. "And with more people in kind of this sober curious world that we're now living in, I think having those options is really a benefit for all of us."

Clif Family is already seeing the benefits after launching the Valley’s first nonalcoholic cocktail and food pairing menu.  That’s right – a booze-free beverage tasting at a winery.

"We just started this tasting and we've had a great response so far," Gay said.

The Farm Elixir Mocktail flight includes three drinks paired with small plates. The cocktails arrive in mini beakers that customers pour into cocktail glasses to combine with mixers.

"We've gotten some great feedback from our customers and guests, and especially those guests who are typically going to a winery where they don't get to have a full experience because they're not drinking wine," Gay said.

Clif Family isn’t the only wine country business getting in on the sober-curious trend.

In the fall of 2022, Phaedra Achor opened The Apothecary by FloraLuna - Sonoma County’s first nonalcoholic cocktail lounge. It opened right next door to a wine bar, and just down the street from several urban winery tasting rooms in downtown Petaluma.

What was she thinking?

"I felt it was an important time for Sonoma County to have an alcohol-free environment because we are a very alcohol focused community," Achor said. "We don't cater to non-drinkers. We saw a huge rise in alcohol consumption through COVID and people are really wanting to reduce or stop drinking."

To do that, many are turning to nonalcoholic drinks. According to IWSR Drinks Market Analysis, the market value of nonalcoholic beverages in key global markets topped $11 billion dollars last year.

"There is a huge demographic of millennials that are choosing to just not have alcohol part of their life, and we're just, there's a, there's just a global movement happening," Achor said.

Customers came to the Apothecary for all kinds of reasons, Achor said. Some are cutting back on alcohol for health reasons, some are in recovery. Others---they just want to sip a delicious drink. 

"One of my favorite cocktails that we served at The Apothecary is called No Strings Attached, and that includes an alcohol-free mescal, my Flora Luna brand tonic syrup and smoked salt and pepper bitters with fresh cucumber juice and lime juice, some fresh jalapeno," Gay said.

The cocktail is tangy and complex, and I just want to drink more of these. And since it’s alcohol free---why not?

"I do believe we will be seeing more alcohol-free options in the wine country catering to people looking for that as smart business," Achor said.

Achor said due to issues with her lease, she made the hard decision to close The Apothecary after almost a year in business. She said she still strongly believes in the need for booze-free drinks options in wine country, and she's now offering consulting services to help local restaurants and bars develop their beverage programs.