Award-winning wine taster and writer Matthew Jukes used his sensory expertise while creating the flavours of Jukes Cordialities. Inspired in part by Haymaker’s Punch – which historically provided hydration and nutrition to those bringing in the harvest in hot climes – apple cider vinegar serves as their base ingredient. The legacy of Haymaker’s Punch lives on in Jukes Cordialities and people from far and wide are beginning to enjoy it, as it’s exported internationally and will soon be enjoyed in the Middle East. In the UK, the range is available to order at high-end venues like Core by Clare Smyth, The Wolseley and Dinner by Heston Blumenthal at the Mandarin Oriental.

One of the standouts among these non-alcoholic drinks is Jukes Sparkling Pinot Noir, whose origin story is as charming as the product itself. One morning in 2020, Jukes arrived at the Victorian railway arches in Battersea where he produces the Cordialities, and where the streets come to life each morning with the bustle of small businesses. In the urban winery next door, his friend Sergio Verrillo was crushing British pinot noir delivered from a vineyard in Essex. Jukes asked for some leftover grape skins. With these he made a drink using the process behind the other Cordialities, gently macerating them in organic apple cider vinegar.

The new creation contrasted with the complex perfumes and rich fruitiness of his classic products. Jukes was intrigued by its single-note, graceful presence. He scaled up the operation in 2021, and within the year the product was listed in select Waitrose stores and other specialist retailers. With the colour of rosé champagne, Jukes Sparkling Pinot Noir is charming for the subtlety with which it balances apple cider vinegar and the properties of pinot. As chef and food writer Xanthe Clay puts it, the beverage is, ‘dry, delicate, [with] pinot-notes of cherry and raspberry, [and] surprising length’.

One imagines this innovation shall endure like its long, refreshing aftertaste. Wine expert Jane Parkinson went so far as to say the drink was, ‘so good [she] stepped away from the tasting table and into the garden to enjoy’. Indeed, as Master of Wine Peter Richards suggests, it’s ‘revitalising stuff’ for both the person drinking and, arguably, the world of beverages…

Incorporating elements from both Haymaker’s Punch and the ancient drink that is wine, Jukes Sparkling Pinot Noir is nonetheless a deliciously endearing novelty. This is the first alcohol-free, sparkling pinot noir neither de-alcoholised nor adjusted. Whereas drinking alcohol might be, as the saying goes, stealing happiness from the following day, Jukes Sparkling Pinot Noir offers joy for a much smaller price.

It upcycles the by-products of wine production and comes in a chic can. Pairing the apple cider vinegar’s benefits with the antioxidant resveratrol (found in red grape skins), it can be fully enjoyed by the health-conscious.

In October 2022, Jukes organised more leftover pinot noir grape skins to be delivered from an array of England’s finest vineyards – and, of course, from Sergio’s next door.

£2.50 each or £10 for a box of four x 250ml cans; at Waitrose stores and waitrosecellar.com; Jukes Cordialities are also available to buy directly from jukescordialities.com for £38 to £41 a box