Anyone who’s spoken to a restaurant team knows how hard it can be to get sommeliers to take alcohol-free wine seriously. 
But a team of WSET Diploma-qualified somms in Canada are doing exactly that, travelling around hospitality businesses in North America to help with listings,  education - and debunking a few myths. 
We had a chat with one of SommZero’s founders (and new judge at the World Alcohol-Free Awards) Alex Viol about the challenge – and potential – of what they are doing.

You came to hospitality quite late as a kind of second career when you moved to Canada. What attracted you to it?
I was in the Okanagan Valley which is like the Napa Valley of Canada – lots of wineries and restaurants. I just found a passion for hospitality and the customer connection – seeing how you could create something amazing for people.

How about your entry into the world of alcohol-free?
Lots of people in my life were going sober and having mixed experiences with the various non-alcoholic options out there. Seeing the challenges they had, it became more apparent to me that the wine and hospitality industries were overlooking a huge community of people.

So what did you do about it?
I started to explore the category and made it my mission to try as many alcohol-free wines from around the world as I could. I used things like the results from WAFA to research who was doing well.

'It helps seeing three DipWSET somms embracing this category...' Alex Viol, SommZero

And how did Somm Zero come about?
Dedicated Alc-free bottle shops are wonderful but where we really want to see true inclusivity is restaurants, hotels and bars where they're not specifically focused on non-alc, but people who  are looking for non-alc still go. Our mission is to reach into hospitality, wineries, breweries and connect with and support teams bringing quality non-alc into those spaces.

So a large part of what you do is education?
That's been a huge part of our mission - to educate, equip and empower hospitality teams to understand the category and the customers better. To talk to them about the category in a way that makes sense for them.

Did you encounter any negativity from somm teams, or the world of alcoholic drinks?
There was some initial scepticism, but more and more people are reaching out to us. I think it helps seeing three DipWSET level somms embracing this category and asking questions without militant sobriety. We are helping them build their non-alc wine list and position it correctly, to deliver the same kind of experience for non-alc that you would expect from ordinary wine.

Lots of our judges for 2025 are hoping for great things from the wine category this year. Why do you think it’s so exciting at the moment?
Now that France is on board, that's really going to help drive things forward. There are lots of consumers who equate French wine with quality. Now that French wine and producers have jumped on board and thrown their resources, expertise and reputation into this category, I think is really going to help generate a wider acceptance in the market.

If you want to know more about SommZero, you can contact Alex Viol on alex@sommzero.com.