French Bloom Continues to Make Waves in the Wine and Spirits Category

In 2019, I was living in Paris. I was working in gastronomy, managing the international development of the Michelin Guide. I was living my best life, traveling the world, discovering new cuisine, when I learned I was pregnant with twins. As somebody who loves fine wine and champagne, I was very disappointed with the non-alcoholic offerings at that time. There really wasn’t something that met my expectations at starred restaurants or significant social events, where I began feeling like I was on the sidelines. Like I was no longer part of the celebration—whether at a gallery opening or at a friend’s wedding.

At the same time, Constance was based in New York, working as a model and also traveling the world. Her work required her to be on the go: flying to far off places, feeling constantly jet lagged, and waking up early for 6 a.m. photo shoots. As her life evolved—as the demands on her career grew, and to be able to perform at her best—she also became interested in the idea of non-alcoholic wines.

Constance and I are longtime friends. One day, over lunch, we talked about how our lives were changing, and dreamed about solving our own problem by creating sparkling wines—at the same level and quality as our favorite traditional brands—but with 0.0-percent alcohol. It was an ambitious idea—a dream that felt nearly impossible at the time. But the absence of anything quite like it made French Bloom an idea worth pursuing.

Lots of people have dreams. Maggie, how did two novices make their entrepreneurial dream real?

To succeed, we knew there were three high requirements we wanted to embrace right from the start.

First, there was a taste requirement. We wanted French Bloom to taste like something that didn’t exist yet. The liquid would be non-alcoholic, but the taste would be close to what we love to drink when we were consuming fine wine.

Second, there was a health requirement. We aimed for French Bloom to be organic and truly non-alcoholic—0.0-percent ABV, not 0.5-percent. With no sulfites, no sugar added, and as clean and natural as possible. Especially since I was pregnant at the time, I did not want to trade-off zero alcohol for lots of chemicals and calories. Neither did Constance. Not surprisingly, neither did our consumers.

And third, there was a prestige requirement. We didn’t want French Bloom to feel like a lesser than product. We did not want purchasers to feel embarrassed to bring it to a dinner party. We wanted them to feel proud to purchase it, consume it, and share it. We were going to be intentional with all the branding elements: storytelling, packaging, distributing, and verything. We dreamed of building a very aspirational brand: A maison up there with the strongest traditional sparkling wine brands—alongside the world’s best champagnes and Proseccos—not just one of the top non-alcoholic sparkling wine brands.

We had a clear passion and a vision for French Bloom. We shared our impossible idea with my husband, now our CEO, Rodolphe, who was experienced as a champagne and cognac maker. He understood from the start how challenging it would be to achieve our requirements and meet our goal. But he is also the epitome of an optimist. Impossible does not exist for him. With his support, it became a matter of how not if our idea would take flight. It took us around two years and almost 100 iterations of R&D to figure out what did and did not work. We launched in 2021. Today, French Bloom has grown to be sold in 50 countries. And we aren’t stopping.