I made fairly drinkable non-alcoholic wine today by accident

But almost burnt the house down (not really).

I like to ‘de-alcoholize’ wine used in cooking if the wine is added late and alcohol is undesired in the recipe. I do this by boiling it till it’s volume is reduced about 15%. In the past I tasted it, both hot and cooled as a curiosity. It always had a burnt ‘off’ flavor but worked fine for a cooking wine.

Today I was doing the same with a white wine but with a bit more heat than usual and it foamed up than caught on fire. Flames were about 10 inches high, but safely contained in the hood over the stove. I played with the stove gas to find the sweet spot where the flames were high but the foam was low. I let it burn off, and slowly the flames got lower till finally they went out.

A bit later I tasted it while still hot, and add a bit of cinnamon and it should compete with hot apple cider, not sweet but lots of flavor. There is a very slight hint of that off flavor, but it’s easy to ignore. I put some aside and cooled it and it was very drinkable.

I went further and added some vodka to it just to see what it would taste like with alcohol added back in and I would have it say I had worse wines then what that taste like.

I am assuming that the fire on top consumed the oxygen and prevented the oxidation of the wine, while driving off the alcohol.

That’s only because of that children’s cough syrup that accidentally poured in there when you bumped the shelf above the stove.