The crafting of an alcohol-free wine involves a careful balancing of art and science, and includes a multitude of decisions made by each winemaker at each step in the process, from harvest to bottle. The story of each wine is unique to its producer, its location, and the artistry of its creator. We spoke with NA winemakers around the globe to learn more about their approaches to creating the best dealcoholized wines.
A great NA wine starts with a great… wine
Throughout our conversations, a shared theme emerged: Creating a great nonalcoholic wine starts with crafting the right fully-fermented wine and then making a series of choices to balance flavor, bouquet, and mouthfeel after dealcoholization. As with all wines, this process begins with the grapes. Winemakers look specifically for balance, tannin structure, acidity, sweetness, and flavor profiles that will remain appealing in a more concentrated, dealcoholized form.
At California-based Oceano Zero, winemaker Rachel Martin selects vineyards to partner with based on site characteristics such as climate, elevation, and temperature fluctuations. Oceano works closely with growers and vineyard owners to select specific clones—such as different expressions of Chardonnay—that are more likely to perform well after dealcoholization. Among other traits, lower acidity and sugar levels are sought after as these can become more pronounced after removing the alcohol from a wine.
Germany’s Nett Wines follows a similar philosophy, emphasizing aromatic varieties such as Sauvignon Blanc, which works particularly well for nonalcoholic production due to its high aroma intensity that stands up to the dealcoholization process.
After experimenting with multiple French and Austrian varietals, Austrian NA wine brand Zeronimo ultimately selected Zweigelt—Austria’s most widely-planted red grape variety—because of its bright, red fruit profile, including strawberry, raspberry, cherry, and cinnamon.
Richard O’Brien from New Zealand’s Giesen explains how the Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc grapes, famous in that region, are perfectly suited for dealcoholization due to their aromatic flavor profile and relative dryness. Similarly, Amanda Thomson, from U.K.-based Noughty, sources grapes from across Europe and South Africa, including Chardonnay grapes for her brand’s sparkling Blanc-de-Blanc.
A delicate balancing act
Across the board, creating balance in the finished, dealcoholized wine emerged as the primary goal of the winemakers we spoke with. Because alcohol provides a wine with body and structure, as well as carrying flavors and aromas, the dealcoholized wine must be rebalanced after the alcohol is removed. Zeronimo’s Patrick Bayer expands on this issue, noting that many dealcoholized wines he and his team have tasted lack core wine characteristics.
According to Nett, red wines are particularly difficult to execute well because of these structural limitations. Without alcohol, tannin integration, mouthfeel, and aromatic cohesion become far harder to manage.
Rachel from Oceano explains the importance of getting the flavor profiles right up front, noting how certain vegetal notes, such as pepper, can become even more exaggerated after dealcoholization and must be avoided in the initial blending decisions.
As aroma capture and reintroduction technology continues to improve, these issues are being addressed in increasingly sophisticated and successful ways. In recent years, wineries like Zeronimo and Nett have adopted the Solos Aroma Recovery System (ARS) from German company FlavoLogic: a patented process that allows winemakers to reintroduce the full spectrum of aromas back into their dealcoholized wines. This system uses solid-phase extraction to capture aroma molecules from the wine’s liquid distillate and bind them to a resin bed. A minuscule amount of the recovered alcohol is then used to dissolve and reintroduce those aromas back into the wine, restoring its original aroma signature.
While this step is more costly than the distillation process itself, it allows the wine’s full aromatic profile to be brought back into balance. The process works best, however, when the base wine is already carefully crafted, as every aromatic note is emphasized in the final product.
As the Solos system expands into US markets, Oceano plans to implement these methods as well and is monitoring other key emerging technologies, such as AltR’s “velvet blade” membrane dealcoholization process that keeps critical compounds in the wine and BevZero’s ClearAlc process, which promises to separate volatile compounds to help balance undesirable notes that might come forward in a wine after dealcoholization.
Time, cost, and iteration
Developing a high-quality non-alcoholic wine is neither quick nor inexpensive. For husband-and-wife team Patrick Bayer and Katja Bernegger at Zeronimo, developing a product they could stand behind took several years, repeated testing, and significant financial investment—sometimes producing as few as ten bottles per trial at a cost of roughly $2,000 per batch. Throughout this period, the team worked closely with a partner in Germany, refining techniques and finding the right notes to create the product they envisioned.
After much experimentation, the team decided to dealcoholize 3000 bottles of their most premium, award-winning wine (much to the initial chagrin of Patrick’s father, winemaker Heribert Bayer, who founded the winery). They reasoned that if the best wine could not survive dealcoholization, nothing else would. The gamble paid off, and the resulting product became their renowned Century Blend red wine, known for its full body and robust flavor.
For Giesen, adding nonalcoholic wines to their product line has changed the face of their company. After early success with outsourced spinning-cone technology, Giesen invested in its own equipment to scale production. They are currently the number one premium NA wine brand in the United States, and plan to pivot the company to focus only on their NA products within five years.
The production of NA wine has also brought other benefits to Giesen. While many companies sell their distilled ethanol to spirits producers, Giesen uses this byproduct to create a premium gin, Strange Nature. They also use the ethanol they capture to power their dealcoholization facility, contributing to a circular, sustainability-focused business model.
Beyond production: The future of NA wine
The stories of each of these winemakers highlight a shared vision: producing high-quality NA wines that allow for inclusivity without compromise. As Katja Bernegger expressed, “Wine should be for everyone, regardless of whether alcohol is part of the experience.”
Though demand continues to grow worldwide, producers acknowledge that nonalcoholic wine still lags behind beer in market penetration, citing product consistency and consumer perception as two constraints in the current market. As technology evolves and expectations rise, nonalcoholic wine is increasingly reaching the standards that define great wines of any kind.
The producers we spoke with agreed that education of consumers and the beverage and hospitality industries needs to continue in order to see NA wines offered more consistently on menus and store shelves.
Overall, the future of NA wine is bright. Winemakers are excited about advances in technology, about creating premium, single-vineyard, and single-vintage products, and about the possibilities for expanding into additional markets. We couldn’t be happier to follow them on this journey. ***
