About

We don't mimic wine. We make something else.

A chef-led drinks company in Melbourne, building wine alternatives out of real produce — fruit, tannin, salinity, acidity — and nothing that has ever been fermented.

  • Founded Melbourne 2019
  • Chef Made
  • 0.0% alcohol
  • Never de-alcoholised
Dehydrated oranges lowered into the steep tank at NONHQ

The origin

A drinks pairing in London that never left the restaurant.

In 2017 Aaron Trotman was eating through Michelin-starred rooms in London. He took the alcohol pairing; the non-drinker at the table was handed something sweet and forgettable.

He had no background in drinks. He came from cosmetics chemistry, which turned out to matter more than a wine list would have. NON launched in 2019.

Aaron Trotman, founder
“I thought it was a real shame that these drinks lived and died in fancy restaurants.”
Aaron Trotman, founder
How it's made

Every glass is built from five things

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01  Fruit
02  Tannin
03  Salinity
04  Acidity
05  Balance

We promise you can Taste Everything

So every ingredient is processed on its own before anything is blended: cooked, steeped, sous-vide, roasted, dehydrated. It's slow, and it's the entire difference.

Who makes it

Chefs, food scientists, bartenders and winemakers — in-house.

Where

Melbourne's South East - 35 minutes from CBD

The process

Produce to bottle, in six stages

Every ingredient is processed on its own before anything is blended.

  1. Preparation

    Whole fruit, herbs, spices, tea and verjus are sourced and prepped. Real produce, not concentrate.

  2. Cook

    Ingredients are cooked to build depth, texture and structure.

  3. Extraction

    Cold or hot, depending on the ingredient. Draws out flavour, colour and aromatics.

  4. Filter

    Solids are removed, leaving a clear, stable base liquid.

  5. Blend

    Filtered extracts are blended to the bottle's final flavour profile.

  6. Bottle

    The finished liquid is sent out for bottling.

NON being poured beside the production tank
Fruit steeping in the NON kitchen
Ingredients being prepared by hand at NONHQ

What we're not

Three things this is not

The category is full of drinks defined by what was taken out. Nothing was taken out of this.

  • Not de-alcoholised

    No wine is made and then stripped. Nothing here has ever been fermented.

  • Not mass-produced

    Cooked, blended and bottled by chefs from real produce, not run off a production line.

  • Not an imitation

    It takes the seat wine had at the table. It does not pretend to be wine.