Fever-Tree White Grape & Apricot Soda
White grape and apricot juice from northern Italy with French verbena oil over them. The grapes come from the Veneto around Treviso, from the varieties that go into prosecco, which is why the bottle reads closer to wine than to a soft drink.
Quick Facts
Flavour Profile
Primary Flavours
Tasting Notes
Fresh white grape acidity leads, followed by soft apricot sweetness and subtle herbal notes. Clean, lightly perfumed finish with gentle carbonation and no cloying aftertaste.
Storage & Handling
Store unopened bottles in a cool, dry place. Refrigerate before use. Once opened, use immediately to preserve carbonation and delicate aromatics.
Shelf Life
Unopened: 6–12 months. Opened: Use immediately
Usage
Poured over ice on its own as a no-alcohol option, or used to lengthen a light spirit. It is the bottle to reach for when someone is not drinking and a glass of something dull would otherwise be the alternative.
Prosecco Country, Without the Wine
The white grapes come from the Veneto in northern Italy, around Treviso, and Fever-Tree say they are the varieties grown for prosecco, hand-picked from vines trained high in a nineteenth-century local style. That single fact explains the whole bottle. Grape juice from wine varieties carries an acidity and a faint grip that dessert grapes do not, and it is what stops the drink reading as squash. The apricot is also northern Italian and cold-pressed to keep the aroma, and both appear on the ingredients as juice from concentrate rather than as flavourings.
Verbena on Top
French verbena oil is the third element and the one most people cannot place. Verbena is lemony and floral at once, closer to a herb than to a fruit, and it sits above the grape and apricot rather than blending into them. It does the job a garnish would otherwise do, which is to give the nose something to work on before the first sip. Without it the drink would be pleasant and flat. With it there is a top note, and a top note is what an aperitif needs in order to function as one.
The No-Alcohol Question
Most soft drinks offered to someone not drinking are sweet, and sweetness is exactly what makes a long evening on them tiring. This one works because it is built like a drink rather than like a soft drink: acidity from wine grapes, a floral top note, and 4.5 grams of sugar per 100ml, which is restrained for something fruit-based. It can be served in a wine glass without any embarrassment. That is a genuinely useful thing for a bar to have and it is thin on the ground.
What Is In It
White grape juice from concentrate and apricot juice from concentrate both sit near the top of the list, ahead of the flavourings, and the sweetener is sugar rather than the fructose used across the Refreshingly Light range. The colour comes from concentrates of apple, hibiscus, carrot and safflower, which is a food-colouring approach rather than a flavouring one. It runs at 18 kcal per 100ml and comes in 200ml, so a bottle is a glass.
Pro Tip
If a drink tastes overly fruity, reduce soda volume before adjusting spirit.
Top Tips
- Serve it in a wine glass. It is built with the acidity to justify one, and the shape helps the verbena.
- Offer it to someone not drinking. Most alternatives are sweet, and sweetness is what makes an evening on soft drinks hard work.
- Read the grape as the point. These are prosecco varieties, and their acidity is why it does not read as squash.
Possible Substitutions
- White grape juice + soda water (drier, less aromatic)
Production Method
Produced by carbonating spring water and blending with natural white grape juice, apricot extracts, and aromatic botanicals such as French verbena before bottling under pressure.
History & Context
White grape and stone fruit flavours have long been used in European aperitif culture. Fever-Tree’s interpretation focuses on balance and restraint rather than overt sweetness.
Common Questions
What is white grape and apricot soda for?
Chiefly for someone not drinking, and it is better at that job than most things offered instead. It also lengthens a light spirit. The build gives it acidity and a floral top note rather than simple sweetness, which is what makes it hold up across a whole evening.
Does it taste like wine?
Not exactly, but the resemblance is not accidental. The white grapes are the varieties grown for prosecco in the Veneto, so the juice carries an acidity and a slight grip that dessert grapes do not. That is what keeps the drink from reading as squash.
How should it be served?
Cold, over ice, in a wine glass rather than a tumbler. The glass is not affectation, since the shape holds the verbena where the nose can reach it. One 200ml bottle fills one glass, which is how the format was designed.
Is there real fruit in it?
Yes. White grape juice from concentrate and apricot juice from concentrate both appear on the ingredients ahead of the flavourings, with the fruit grown in northern Italy and the apricots cold-pressed. The verbena arrives as an oil rather than as fruit.