If you frequent the beverage section of the supermarket, you will find that non-alcoholic wine, non-alcoholic beer and other beverages have quietly appeared in the market. However, do you really understand what “non-alcoholic” wine is all about?
1.
What is non-alcoholic wine?
As we all know, wine is called wine because it contains alcohol. Technically speaking, 90% non-alcoholic wine is wine with less than 1% alcohol by volume, not non-alcoholic wine.
2.
The birth of non-alcoholic wine
Since the 1980s, the concept of non-alcoholic wine has been introduced abroad. At that time, the European wine market was in a downturn, and at the same time, some driver policies and regulations were introduced, which caused a huge blow to traditional wines.
In addition, young people gradually lost interest in traditional dry hot wines, which naturally led to the formation of more easily imported non-alcoholic wines. Although alcohol-free wines are still a minority of wine products to date, the value of their existence should not be underestimated. Non-alcoholic wines are common in Australia, the United States, and Northwest European countries.
3.
How are non-alcoholic wines made?
Non-alcoholic wines are made in the same way as traditional wines, but most of the alcohol is removed before bottling.
Currently, there are three most common methods of “de-alcoholization”.
Reverse Osmosis
The principle is the same as desalination (also known as ultrafiltration). It uses a semi-permeable membrane that allows only the solute to pass through, but not the solute. First, the aromatic compounds and phenols in the wine are separated from the alcohol and water, and then the alcohol and water are separated out by distillation. This method is more costly due to the high cost of semi-permeable membranes.
Vacuum distillation
This method distills the wine directly in a vacuum chamber, but most of the aromatic compounds evaporate when the alcohol is distilled. Many people also complain that wines made using this method lack a pleasant bouquet, but fortunately, few of the major non-alcoholic wine brands on the market use this method.
Low Temperature Pressing
The grapes are picked and pressed directly into large stainless steel tanks at low temperature to obtain fresh juice. To avoid the sweetness and greasiness of pure grape juice, carbon dioxide gas is often added during bottling to create fresh, non-alcoholic bubbly grape juice.
4.
Without alcohol, what else can I drink?
“Is a red wine without alcohol still called a red wine?”
It really can’t bring stimulation and numbness like ordinary wine, but for those who are afraid of wine harming their bodies and want to drink, it is the last “lifesaver” that can satisfy their taste buds.
