This is how dealcolates are produced: can they still be considered real wine?

With reverse osmosis, on the other hand, very thin membranes are used to filter out the aromatic and phenolic compounds at high pressure. Then the alcohol is removed from the wine through distillation and the amount of water obtained through this technique is added back to the wine in order to lower the alcohol component. Some would say, 'this wine is a bit watered down', but beyond the facetiousness, bear in mind that the ethanol extracted from the wine cannot be reused as it is too diluted in water.

Coming, finally, to the last technique, the alcohol is evaporated in a vacuum environment through 'rotating cones'. The evaporation temperature of ethyl alcohol is lower than that of water and, in addition, the vacuum environment lowers the evaporation temperature to about 20 degrees, which allows the alcohol but not the water to be removed. With this system, however, only part of the wine is totally dealcoholised to limit the loss of aromatic components.

Having explained, as far as possible, the various techniques, let us not forget that one of the promises of those who produce dealcoholised wines is that the taste remains largely unaltered. But how is this possible, I ask myself, if one of the main elements - alcohol - is removed, which acts as an aromatic vector and modifies taste perception? And indeed the addition of 'natural aromas' comes into play. An apparently reassuring wording, but one that should be investigated carefully: where do these aromas come from? How are they obtained? And above all, let me say: can we still talk about wine? The answer, probably, is no! Because the resulting product is a wine-based drink, readjusted, reconstructed, treated. A compromise driven by the market, perhaps, but far removed from the concept of naturalness that is so fashionable. But then, looking at it ironically, where does all this removed alcohol go? Perhaps in the famous disinfectant gels that after Covid nobody uses any more and have disappeared even from airport dispensers and health facilities.

We now come to what is perhaps the most critical point, often eluded in the promotional communication of these products: sustainability. In words, dealcoholised wines are an answer to consumer demand, a healthier choice, a modern beverage, but when all is said and done, the production process requires significant energy expenditure, sophisticated equipment, transport and so on. So much for so-called natural wine and sustainability!.

But that is not enough: the entire sector of small artisanal producers is now cut off not being able to afford a rotating cone system or a reverse osmosis system. If they ever wanted to attempt the path of dealcoholisation - for commercial reasons, marketing or foreign markets - they would have to rely on external service centres, thus distorting the short supply chain and direct control over the product (another factor that undermines the identity of wine as a territorial expression, about which we have spoken so much previously).

To conclude. To call them 'non-alcoholic' is a mistake, to think that they are sustainable an illusion and to hope that they are within everyone's reach, a distortion. De-alcoholic wines are an industrial response to a global demand, driven by new sensitivities and health fashions. But they are also the opposite of everything the artisanal wine world has built up over the last thirty years: rooting, identity, simple, manual and transparent processes. And maybe, the next time someone offers you a wine without alcohol, remember, before you drink it, that you are looking at the result of an intensive intervention, a kind of facelift... even a botched one!