French Bloom co-founders Maggie Frerejean-Taittinger and Constance Jablonski. The brand is increasing distribution of its alcohol-free sparkling wines in Canada following success in France, United States and the United Kingdom.French Bloom
With a goal of producing super-premium alcohol-free sparkling wine, the team behind French Bloom started by removing the alcohol from top-quality bottles from Champagne, Bordeaux and Burgundy.
“It was blasphemy, I am ashamed to say,” says chief executive officer Rodolphe Frerejean-Taittinger. “But we realized if you remove the alcohol from Romanée-Conti, you’re not going to get a good alcohol-free Romanée-Conti.”
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Frerejean-Taittinger says those early experiments inspired a different approach to produce French Bloom’s range of alcohol-free sparkling wines, which are increasing distribution in Canada following success in France, United States and the United Kingdom.
“De-alcoholized wine is pretty bad because when you remove the alcohol, you also remove the backbone of the wine; you lose the body, texture and 90 per cent of the aroma,” explains Frerejean-Taittinger, whose family operates Champagne Frerejean Freres and cognac producer, Coutanseaux Aîné. (He is also a cousin to the owners of Champagne Taittinger.)
To create more of a wine experience for drinkers, French Bloom starts with a base wine made from organically grown chardonnay and pinot noir from Limoux in Languedoc that’s supercharged with flavour, richness and acidity to ensure enough complexity and character remain in the finished product following its three-stage de-alcoholisation process (using low-temperature vacuum distillation). The wine is carbonated with carbon dioxide before bottling.
With 10 editions of the core Le Blanc and Le Rosé released to date, the team continues to refine their approach. The development of the Extra Brut and La Cuvée Vintage led to additional breakthroughs in building texture while reducing residual sweetness in the finished product.
French Bloom was founded in 2019 by friends Maggie Frerejean-Taittinger and French model Constance Jablonski, with support from Maggie’s husband Rodolphe. Frerejean-Taittinger was expecting twins at the time and saw an opportunity in the market for what she calls complex wines that happen to be made without alcohol. They released their first alcohol-free sparkling in 2021.
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“We originally thought our audience was going to be pregnant women or the sober community,” she says. Instead, consumer research shows 80 per cent of French Bloom customers drink wine regularly.
“They’re what we call flexi-drinkers,” Frerejean-Taittinger says.
The quality and success of the brand attracted the attention of Moët Hennessy, owners of Dom Pérignon, Krug and Veuve Clicquot, who became a minority stakeholder in October, 2024.
French Bloom Le Blanc Sparkling White is $49.99 and Le Rosé Sparkling Rosé is $54.99, available direct from upsidedrinks.ca and Holt Renfrew.
