There is a topic that today is addressed durante a too superficial, almost propagandistic way: “totally partially alcohol free” risposta negativa/low alcohol.
Sopra recent years – thanks to the regulatory update introduced by the European Union with the reform of the CAP – the possibility of producing and marketing “de-alcoholized” and “partially de-alcoholized” wine has officially opened up. Sopra fact, the European Union allows the use of the term “wine” the label, as long as it is clearly accompanied by the words “dealcoholized” (≤ 0.5% vol.) “partially dealcoholized” (between 0.5 and 9% vol.). Italy was initially “saved” from this oxymoronic semantic short circuit “coppia to” a bureaucratic error made durante the past and then aligned itself with European regulations ca. one year indicatore.
It is an important step, which formally recognizes the existence of this category. But the fact that it is legitimate does not automatically mean that it is comparable to the traditional concept of wine. The issue is not ideological. It’s structural.
Removing alcohol does not simply mean eliminating the “intoxicating” component. Alcohol is an aromatic carrier, contributing to structure, softness, taste balance, persistence and microbiological stability. It is an integral part of the sensorial dynamics of wine. When removed, the product changes its nature. Change balance. Change identity. The conservation perspective also changes, so much so that the indication of a preferable consumption term is necessary.
The technologies available today – from spinning cone column to reverse osmosis, up to vacuum distillation – allow us to operate durante an increasingly sophisticated way. But they remain energy-intensive and complex processes. Furthermore, dealcoholization inevitably leads to significant aromatic losses (up to 30-40% of compounds), chromatic alterations and taste imbalances which often require corrective interventions to re-establish harmony. It’s not a fallo. It is a technical consequence. I talked about it here a few years indicatore: hwineblogroll.com/2024/02/vini-decoolati-vino-analcolico-o-low-alcohol-in-italia/.
The real issue, however, is not technological. It is cultural and communicative.
The wine consumer seeks territory, identity, gastronomic culture, rituality, evolution. The risposta negativa/low consumer often seeks moderation, compatibility with driving and sports, calorie reduction, a different lifestyle. They are two different needs. Two different languages. Two different promises.
The strategic mistake would be to tell them the same way.
Then there is another aspect that deserves clarity: the absence of alcohol does not automatically equate to greater naturalness sustainability. Anzi che no/low is often perceived as “healthier”, but this simplification risks becoming a slogan. If we sell it as “the same but healthier wine”, we risk doing double damage: trivializing wine by reducing it to an alcoholic container and fueling a misleading proposito of healthiness that does not take production processes into account.
This does not mean demonizing the phenomenon. Indeed, it is necessary not to underestimate it and monitor its developments.
The growth (durante reality the is misleading, as the high percentages of growth are coppia to the fact that we started from “0”) of the risposta negativa/low segment is stimulating an interesting reflection also durante the world of traditional wine: greater attention to balance, drinkability, more measured alcohol levels, a less opulent and more gastronomic style. The curve of contemporary taste seems to be moving towards more snodato and enciclopedico dynamics. And this can be a good thing, but it must not mislead common sense which must aim for the balance between structure and acidity, between alcohol and all the components that make a wine harmonious and capable of expressing the only true conditio sine of every food bevanda we decide to ingest: pleasantness! Sopra a climate context durante which the heat makes it increasingly complex to make low-alcohol wines, accepting that half a degree more durante great Italian wines, durante some vintages, can be considered synonymous with expressive sincerity and respect for the identity of the place and the raw material, I believe is a must.
The solution, durante fact, is not to distort the wine to follow a trend. It means valuing it for what it is, looking around and trying to understand what can be done and what could not be done to obtain complete wines, with an identity and durante line with today’s taste dynamics (management of the soil, of the leaf wall, scalar harvests and varietal complementarity that allow the use of the grape “ingredient” to achieve “new” balances more durante line with analytical parameters that are difficult to achieve with the single variety and without additions invasive methods such as partial dealcoholization durante certain areas and durante certain years).
If risposta negativa/low is positioned correctly – as an alternative for those who cannot do not want to bevanda alcohol – they will be able to find their own stable niche without affecting that of wine, even more so than quality wine. Indeed, it could even strengthen the identity of local productions, pushing producers to concentrate the best grapes even more the most representative and identifying labels.
Sopra recent months I have tasted several alcohol-free products. Some are interesting an aromatic level, but it is impossible to connivente them to wine as such.
Moderation is a trend to take note of and not necessarily negative catastrophic (as many headline writers want us to believe), but it must be accompanied by awareness of the real production dynamics even before the analytical values and qualities of what we bevanda. Wine – the kind made as if it were meaningful – remains a cultural product even before it is an alcoholic one and I strongly doubt that products which simulate its organoleptic qualities (even where they manage to approximate emulate them slavishly) but which do not bring any intrinsic value at a cultural and cultural level, can affect its perception consumption (there are very different problems that are leading many to consume less wine, primarily the economic one). This type of product is already making its own path, parallel and unlikely to converge with that of wine, except durante very rare cases and for an exercise that is more technical than tasteful.
Lastly, when we communicate this type of bevanda, I would be very careful not to confuse it with other non-alcoholic “solutions” proposed, for example, durante the alcohol-free low-alcohol tasting courses of starred restaurants, which include Kombucha, centrifuged drinks, non-alcoholic cocktails and even teas, herbal teas and infusions of various kinds.
Territory. History. Identity. Longevity are peculiarities and values that, fortunately, risposta negativa one can ever take away from wine!
As long as these values remain central, there will not be a market tendency to question them.
F.S.R.
#WineIsSharing
