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The Alcohol Divide – A Health and Wellbeing Series
Dr Karina Joyce, Founder of NoLo Life, caught in a moment. Image courtesy NoLo Life.
More than soda water and compromise
A Q&A with Dr Karina Joyce, Founder of NoLo Life
Briefly …
As alcohol-free drinking continues to grow, wineries and hospitality venues are being challenged to think differently about inclusion. Dr Karina Joyce, Founder of NoLo Life, shares her experiences navigating wine culture as a non-drinker, the rise of alcohol-free alternatives, and why thoughtful hospitality should extend beyond those drinking alcohol.
Dr Karina Joyce loves wine. What changed was not her appreciation for flavour, ritual, or the social experience surrounding it, but her growing awareness of alcohol itself. After beginning Dry July in 2023, she was confronted not only by the health impacts linked to alcohol consumption, but by how invisible non-drinkers often remain within Australian hospitality culture.
From wine lists containing hundreds of labels but no alcohol-free options, to winery tastings where non-drinkers are effectively excluded from the experience altogether, she quickly recognised how limited the landscape could feel for people trying to moderate or stop drinking without stepping away from social life entirely.
That experience led her to create NoLo Life, an Australian-based platform bringing together venues, resources, and practical information for people seeking alcohol-free and mindful drinking options. For Karina, inclusion is not about obligation or social responsibility, but recognising that many non-drinkers still value the culture, complexity, and sensory experience traditionally associated with wine itself.
“… inclusion is not about obligation or social responsibility, but recognising that many non-drinkers still value the culture, complexity, and sensory experience traditionally associated with wine itself.”
You describe starting Dry July with strong intent but limited knowledge. What surprised you most in those first few weeks?
I think what didn’t just surprise me, but shocked me, was the multitude of negative impacts alcohol has on your health. For years I had kidded myself to believe that alcohol just puts a bit of pressure on your liver, and that as long as you didn’t over-do it you’d be okay. When I found out that not only did alcohol damage your liver, but it also shrank your brain, increased your chances of getting seven types of cancer, heart disease and alcohol-induced dementia, and that it is chemically charged to create addictive consumption, I was blown away.
Your shift to an alcohol-free lifestyle didn’t happen overnight. What were some of the moments that tested that decision early on?
I’ve always been very socially active and love evenings out with friends, particularly Friday happy hours. It was hard to continue going to the pub on a Friday after work and watch others drinking alcohol – particularly my drink of choice: wine. I’ve never been a ‘fizzy’ drink drinker, and I am probably more wary of sugar than I am alcohol so the drinks on offer at bars, such as the go-to lemon, lime and bitters or apple juice, weren’t working for me. My workaround was to sneak alcohol-free alternatives into venues – which is quite ironic when I look back at 40+ years ago when I used to sneak in alcohol to dry venues!
At what point did you begin to notice how non-drinkers are positioned within Australian social culture?
I noticed the marginalisation of non-drinkers within days of embarking on Dry July in 2023. Because I had been a drinker for my whole adult life, I had never had reason to look at the non-alcoholic lists on beverage menus. So I wasn’t prepared for the experience of invisibility you get as a non-drinker. Most pubs only have alcohol-free beer, and some have a few alcohol-free spirits. But you would expect better when you go to a fine dining restaurant where there is a beautifully presented leather-bound folder with over 300 wines on offer, and not one alcohol-free wine! It incensed me to see this – not just for myself, but for the 23% of Australians who don’t drink alcohol. Admittedly, many of those people have never or seldom imbibed, so they are used to drinking water or soda when they go out. But my concern was for the people who are struggling to give up and vulnerable to temptation (I’ll admit it, I include myself in that category!).
You mention feeling pushed to the margins. Can you describe what that looked like during winery visits?
I’m yet to find a winery with alcohol-free tastings. I haven’t let that stop me going and enjoying a delightful day out with friends. I still love wine, so I will pick up each of my partner’s tastes, swirl it and have a deep inhale of the aromas. Then, I’ll hand it back to him and ask what he thinks. In the meantime, I have been somewhat of a rebel and smuggle alcohol-free wine in my handbag (the great thing about being a woman, is you are never questioned about what’s in your handbag!). So I enjoy an alcohol-free wine while they have the traditional version. I always leave my empty bottle on the table when we leave, as a cheeky little hint that they missed out on my money because they didn’t cater to wine drinkers who don’t want alcohol.
“Look close!” – Bar NoLo. Image courtesy NoLo Life.
When you were actively looking for alternatives, what did you find was missing from the experience?
Opportunities to taste! I’ve ordered wine online or bought it from bottle stores, only to get it home and find it lacking depth of flavour. To be honest, there have been times I’ve been out and ordered alcohol-free wine, only to ask for a regular one, then blending the two to try and get a more authentic experience. As alcohol-free wine is relatively new (with the exception of Edenvale, who have improved and expanded their range significantly in the last decade), there is a lengthy spectrum between the good, the passable, and the downright awful!
There’s been a visible rise in non-alcoholic options. From your perspective, is availability improving in a meaningful way or is it still quite limited?
This is a great question! Yes, it’s improving a lot. And there are some amazing imports hitting our shores. Some of the larger wineries have realised there is a growing market in no and low alcohol wine and jumped on the bandwagon (or off the wagon?). However, sadly, they have not put the same effort into developing the layers or using alternative methods (such as picking their grapes later to ensure there is enough natural sugar to balance the sugar that gets lost in alcohol-removal) as some of the boutique wineries who have been trailblazers in the space.
The other problem is that the best alcohol-free wines are expensive because the supply/demand economics haven’t quite kicked in yet. Consumers haven’t quite come to terms with the fact that fine alcohol-free wine comes at a price, and don’t understand that making a good alcohol-free wine is a more complex endeavour than making traditional wine. So, there’s a lag at present in consumer education in the market.
NoLo Life brings together resources, venues, and information. What particular gap were you most determined to close when you created it?
There were two main gaps I saw a need to fill. The first was a gap for a single source of information that is Australian-based. There is ample information, scattered across a bunch of different countries and support sources, however, nothing that made it easy to pull it all together. The second was a simple way to find restaurants, bars and other venues who cater thoughtfully for non-drinkers. When I would look up “Restaurants near me with good alcohol-free/non-alcoholic drinks” listings of alcohol-free retailers came up, not venues. The only way I could find the ones who have a good variety was to visit their website, find their menu and go from there. I wanted a one-stop place I could find NoLo-friendly venues, find a range of different support sites and get everyday tips on practical ways to live a happy and social life alcohol-free.
Brunswick Aces in Victoria, Australia, is “always a popular choice”. Image courtesy NoLo Life.
For someone choosing not to drink in environments like wineries where alcohol is central, what can make the biggest difference to how included they feel?
There’s a really good chance that if someone is visiting a winery who doesn’t drink alcohol, that they have an appreciation of wine and culture. So, having a way for all winery visitors to have a wine experience – with or without alcohol – would be amazing! There is a big opportunity for wineries who don’t offer alcohol-free or low-alcohol wine to partner with those who do. It’s about inclusivity and ensuring there is a quality offering for everyone.
I was recently speaking with one of the managers of a craft brewery. They made a conscious decision not to brew alcohol-free beer, but they have a policy that “everyone’s welcome” at their venue. So, they stock a couple of alcohol-free beers from others in the trade, knowing these are better quality than they would be able to produce, and will keep the non-drinkers coming back. In addition, if there is a non-drinker in a tasting group, do not ignore them. Include them in the experience, allowing them to smell the wine and learning a little about what they like to drink (you could potentially uncover a lover of cider, that you also could serve them, as an example).
Sparking Zero is served. Image courtesy NoLo Life.
Do you think wineries truly understand what non-drinkers are looking for, or is there still a tendency to treat it as a secondary consideration?
My impression is that the large wineries are just diversifying in keeping with trends – I’ve found some of the larger brands to have removed the alcohol without really compensating with extra to fill the void. However, the wineries that specialise in alcohol-free wine and always have (such as Edenvale, Altina and Pure Vision) are heart ‘n’ soul there for the non-drinker. I know that Edenvale spends a large portion of their revenue on research and development and is constantly coming up with improved alcohol-free wines.
Edenvale is up for tasting. Image courtesy NoLo Life.
To what extent does the responsibility for visitor inclusivity lie with the industry and winery owners and operators in particular?
I wouldn’t refer to it as “responsibility” as in ‘social responsibility’, it’s more common sense. The non-drinking market is growing every day, so not to make wineries more inclusive to non-drinkers is sending traffic to the ones who want to create a cultured experience for all, not just the alcohol drinkers. Just because someone doesn’t drink alcohol on the day, doesn’t mean they have never enjoyed wine or wouldn’t love to taste quality wine without alcohol. By and large, wine lovers don’t drink to get drunk, they drink to savour an exquisite sensory experience. If anything, alcohol dulls that experience. There are restaurants across Europe now that offer alcohol-free wine matching with their degustation menu, so there is clearly a sophisticated market globally, and Australia is following suit.
To learn more about Karina’s NoLo Life, visit the website https://nololife.org.au/