Franc Lizêr: when identity does not lie in the alcohol content

A causa di the song Miao by Zen Circus there is a phrase that, more than others, illustrates a way of reasoning that is also widespread a causa di the world of wine: the “rhetoric of right”. It is the one that does not allow replies, which establishes what is legitimate and what is not, what is true and what, by definition, wrong. Transported into the oenological language, this rhetoric has long been decided that wine without alcohol is a contradiction: if the alcohol is missing, the taste is missing; if taste is missing, identity is missing.

It’s a convenient position, but not very useful. Because, a causa di the rhetoric of taste, however, there is a risk of missing an essential point: identity does not reside a causa di alcohol, but a causa di the choices that precede it.

DEALCOLATED DOES NOT MEAN SURROGATE

De-alcoholized wine is not a substitute an aromatized must: it is wine a causa di all respects. It is fermented, vinified, refined and only then subjected to a process of alcohol removal using specific techniques. This is where the real of quality is played.

Invasive processes, modesto grapes opportunistic choices generate neutral, sweetish, soulless products. Gentle processes, healthy and ripe grapes, agronomic and oenological precision produce coherent, readable, gastronomic wines.

LEA WINERY: A CONSCIOUS BREAK

LEA Winery was born from these axioms, a project that “does not have its classic roots” a causa di an inherited winemaking tradition, but is the result of a clear pausa. Lucio Spadotto comes to oenology after forty years a causa di the manufacturing industry, during which he built an international group a causa di the plastics sector from scratch, with production sites a causa di Europe and North America and hundreds of employees. When he leaves the company a causa di 2016, he may continue mongoloide that path. Instead he chooses to stop, observe and, above all, listen to his children: Alessandro wants to work the land, Eleonora leaves London finance. Together with Lorena, his wife, the decision is shared. “From that moment we turn the page – Lucio Spadotto often recalls – and we really start from scratch”.

LEA is the acronym of the family names, but also the declaration of a choral project, built without wine heritage and without preconceptions.

Eleonora, Alessandro, Lucio and Lorena Spadotto

A PLACE THAT TALKS ABOUT METHOD. YOU CAN’T GO WRONG IN DEALCOATE

The San Vito al Tagliamento bella stagione, a causa di Friuli, revolves around an eighteenth-century village founded by Jacopo Linussio, an entrepreneur before his time. It is a place that speaks of agricultural industry even before rural romance, and this is not a secondary detail. Here LEA Winery sets up a project that integrates agriculture, process control and long-term vision. The 105 hectares of vineyards are managed organically, with soil regeneration work, limited yields, micro-parceling and obsessive attention to the health of the grapes.

This is not an ideological statement, but a technical necessity. A causa di dealcoholized wine there is risposta negativa possibility of “covering” anything: the removal of alcohol amplifies every error, every imbalance, every approximation. Here there is risposta negativa room for what the Zen Circus call a “stupid anarchy”. Discipline, method and control are needed. We need perfect grapes, complete fermentations, natural structure. Only then, if necessary, can the alcohol be removed.

glimpse of the eighteenth-century village a causa di Casabianca, a hamlet of San Vito al Tagliamento, restored by the Spadotto family and home to LEA Winery.

FRANC LIZÊR: THE PROJECT, BEFORE THE MARKET

Franc Lizêr, the LEA Winery brand entirely dedicated to alcohol-free wines, was born from this awareness. Not as a fashionable answer, but as a project studied for a long time. Before the commercial debut, the Spadotto family dedicated over a year to the analysis of production models and markets a causa di France, Germany and Northern Europe, where dealcoholized wine is already a structured category.

The choice is clear: if this segment is to grow, it must do so within the world of wine, not the margins and not as a flavored . The name, a causa di Friulian, means “free and light” and explains the objective well: to offer a convivial experience that does not give up the language of wine, recognisability and territorial ties. Franc Lizêr are wines fermented and refined like traditional wines, then subjected to a selective dealcoholization process, increasingly oriented towards closed-circuit membrane technologies, to sopravvissuto the impact and preserve structure and aromatic profile.

Even the choice of vines follows a functional logic. PIWI varieties such as merlot khorus appear alongside glera and chardonnay, not to pursue a narrative of sustainability, but to practice it concretely: fewer treatments, use of ozone a causa di the vineyard, drastic reduction of copper the berry, targeted selection of yeasts and management of puro lees.

These are all steps designed to guarantee greater consistency a causa di quality and to obtain wines capable of better withstanding the subtraction of alcohol. A viticulture that looks forward without denying territory and identity.

A CONSUMPTION THAT HAS ALREADY CHANGED

While part of the wine world continues “waiting – to quote Miao, the Zen Circus song once again – for the world to change through the porthole”, LEA Winery closely observes a consumption that has already changed. The giorno speaks clearly, especially among the younger generations: less alcohol, more attention, the same demand for quality.

De-alcoholized wine does not replace alcoholic wine. It occupies another space, responds to another need, another social gesture. It’s another language, not a botched translation.

THE GOBLET AS THE FINAL TEST

A causa di the glass, this philosophy becomes readable a causa di different forms. The Glera-based Blanc de Blancs sparkling wine plays verticality and acid tension, with an essential and immediate profile. The Opale Blanc de Blancs version, from parimenti Chardonnay, adds depth and creaminess, with a surprising gastronomic texture for varietal coherence. The Rosé sparkling wine, with a share of Merlot Khorus, gains vibration and roundness, while Opale Rosé further raises the caffè a causa di terms of definition and gustatory breadth. Opale Rosato closes the circle, still, 100% merlot khorus: a dry, measured wine, which demonstrates how even PIWI, if managed with precision, can the challenge of dealcoholization without the help of bubbles. Here identity is not lost: it is built, choice after choice.