Interview

Dal Cin: 'De-carbonated wine is an opportunity but will have an expiry date'

3 July 2024

3' min read

The great fascination of wine is also linked to certain paradoxes that run through the sector. For example, after years spent chasing organic and natural, now, the most promising frontier appears to be dealcoholised wine. A product from which one of the key components, alcohol, is removed, which develops naturally through fermentation of the fruit. However, dealcoholised wine represents a great opportunity because it can bring slices of the population, who for religious or health reasons (diabetics, allergy sufferers) have remained distant from it, closer to the wine sector.

This is the conviction of Marzio Dal Cin, president of Dal Cin, a leading company in products for oenology that today has a turnover of 21.4 million euro (5.2 Ebitda), about a third of which is realised abroad, with two plants, one in Concorezzo (Monza-Brianza) and the other in Foggia. "From our beginnings in '49 until the 80s and 90s," explains Dal Cin, "our function was curative: we tried to correct defects in grapes, must and wine in the cellar. Then our mission became preventive. We aim to prevent defects, and also with the work done in the vineyard'.

In recent years there has been much talk about organic and natural wine.
I studied at the Salesians where they taught me that wine is the fruit of the vine and the work of man. It is a product that comes from nature and is therefore subject to decomposition. Man's intervention is needed to stabilise this substance and make it palatable. And intervention is needed to avoid risky problems for man.

What kind?
There are diseases that attack the vine that generate toxins and can then end up in the final product. Wine can be attacked by yeasts and bacteria as well as microorganisms and moulds. These can be counteracted by clarification, filtration and stabilisation processes.

Some people wonder why there are sulphites in organic wine.
The Romans used to burn sulphur in wooden or earthenware vessels and this generated sulphur dioxide and they discovered that it was possible to preserve wine in this way. Sulphites were certainly not invented by us, they serve to stabilise wine and organic wine even more than conventional wine.

What do you think of the attacks on wine and alcohol?
The problem is all in the behaviour. I am a chemist and I believe that there are no toxic substances but toxic doses. In homeopathic medicine, arsenic, normally considered a poison, is used to cure. In wine there are hundreds of substances in balance with each other, many that have beneficial effects for humans. Moderation is the way.

And dealcoholised wines?
They are a great opportunity because they would allow us to reach a huge segment of customers who are today far from wine. But it takes time. A dealcoloured Barolo will never be like a classic Barolo. De-alcoholised wine has different nuances and aromas. Many alcohol-free whites often have hints of cooked apple juice. Reds are more variable, sweetish in taste and more acidic. Removing alcohol often means removing aromas and colour. It is necessary to compensate. A dealcoloured sparkling wine is then produced by subtracting alcohol from a still wine and then adding carbon dioxide. This is because the authorised dealcoholisation techniques (distillation, vacuum evaporation and membrane filtration) cannot be used at high pressures. Removing the alcohol will also affect the shelf life of the product. De-coloured wines will have an expiry date because alcohol contributes to the microbiological stability of the wine.

A meal drink, produced from the vineyard and an alternative to the soft drinks available today. What is still missing?
To arrive at products that are as close as possible to the original ones. We should be able to recognise a Chardonnay, a Pinot Grigio, a Pinot Noir even if they are alcohol-free.

Some don't want dealcolate to be called wine...
We did an experiment in the supermarket: out of ten conventional bottles only one had the term 'wine' on the label. All the others the appellation, the grape variety, the company brand. This seems to me to be negligible, even though technically a dealcolate should not be called 'wine'.

And apart from the technical difficulties, what other obstacles do you see?
In Italy, a tax issue is emerging: we do not know how to frame the ethanol removed from the wine and its physical presence in the cellars, which are not distilleries. In France and Spain they have already solved this and are ahead. We are wasting time.

Giorgio dell’OreficeVicecaposervizio
- LinkedIn
- Email
Luogo: Roma
Lingue parlate: italiano, inglese
Argomenti: agricoltura, agroalimentare, made in Italy, vitinicoltura, olio
Scheda autore
Trust project