Sydney-based non-alcoholic drinks company Heaps Normal has launched High Hopes Prosecco, its first non-alcoholic wine.

The wine is the result of an 18-month project undertaken in partnership with the Australian Wine Research Institute (AWRI) – one of the world’s leading centres for wine science.

Developed by Heaps Normal Head of Wine Ned Brooks, alongside Heaps Normal’s co-founder Ben Holdstock, the prosecco is made through an in-house production method developed after extensive research into the category.

The process drew on extensive consultation with winemakers, bartenders and organic chemists before arriving at a result that surprised even the experts.

Holdstock said: “This all started with a pretty simple question: could a beer company create a non-alc wine that the
best in the business would respect?

“There are so many non-alc producers who we deeply admire and respect – and yet the stubborn perception of non-alc wine is that it’s something of a consolation prize. It often feels like a choice that comes from a place of compromise and not
desire. We wanted to rip that up completely. Aim for something higher. Now, our question is more a provocation to the wider hospitality industry: try it and see.

“There were plenty of failed batches until we landed on something worthy of the High Hopes moniker. Our collaborators at the AWRI’s No-Low Wine Research Centre called it among the best non-alcoholic wines they had encountered.”

To launch High Hopes, Heaps Normal has commissioned Sydney-based film director Madeleine Purdy (Radio Free Alice, Gordi, Body Type) to bring the High Hopes world to life via a music video to accompany Sydney punk band Meow Meow & the Smackouts’ debut studio single “Kicks”.

The accompanying video clip will be distributed on Heaps Normal’s channels, with a CD single available via Heaps Normal Records.

Heaps Normal CEO and co-founder Andy Miller said: “We keep coming back to this idea of punk in 2026 as a defiant, rebellious optimism. In a world that wants to tell us how to act and what to think – that feeds off our passiveness – it felt incredibly punk to bring High Hopes into the world as a protest against settling for the status quo.”

High Hopes Prosecco drinks like a Brut-style wine. Pale lemon with a fine bead, the bouquet is of citrus peel, lemon sorbet and green apple. Initially bright and crisp, the palate then opens into apples and pears with delicate lemon blossom and jasmine flower. The acidity is creamy across the palate, rounding off with a dry finish.

Brooks said: “We deliberately developed a wine to be enjoyed with food – something versatile that can be enjoyed with anything from freshly shaved parma ham, mozzarella-filled arancini, pan-seared fish and – come summer – a dozen oysters and newspaper-wrapped fish and chips somewhere salty and warm.

“We’re excited to get stuck into it at the Health Club, mixing up delicious lower ABV spritzes.”

High Hopes non-alcoholic prosecco is priced at $23 per 750ml bottle and available now at the brand’s Marrickville venue – Heaps Normal Health Club – as well as selected independent retailers and restaurants across Australia.