Should we allow non-alcoholic wine to be called wine?

On Moncrieff today, Neighbourhood Wine co-founder Mick O’Connell said, according to the EU, that non-alcoholic versions do not “meet the definition at all” of wine.

The EU specifies that for a product to be called wine it must be made from grapes and contain a minimum of 8.5% alcohol.

It comes as an Italian government minister made headlines this week after he said non-alcoholic wines should not be called wine as its damaging to Italian culture.

Mr O’Connell said making good quality non-alcoholic wine has proved difficult for manufacturers in the past.

“Up until very recently, non-alcoholic wine hasn’t been very good which you could argue impacts culturally on wine,” he said.

“Usually what was happening was people were taking their worst wine and they were stripping the alcohol out through a centrifuge kind of method or they were boiling alcohol off.

“The problem with boiling it off is you also tend to boil off a lot of the flavour compounds which is why making non-alcoholic wine or beer is very difficult.”

Increased demand

Mr O’Connell said increased demand for non-alcoholic wine has pushed up its quality in recent years.

“It’s going up all the time as people are becoming more health conscious,” he said.

“We’re quite lucky at the moment with non-alcoholic wine with a few brands coming on stream that are made with very-very good base products.

“The process is still the same but they’re a lot gentler in doing it.

“They’re doing the heating process more slowly, capturing the aromas and putting the aromas back in – that’s the important part.”

Alcohol-free wine bottles in a supermarket. Image: alexbuess / Alamy Stock Photo

Mr O’Connell said health trends are also increasing the popularity of non-alcoholic drinks.

“Things like dry January, these catchy give up the booze for a while things, are having an impact,” he said.

“We notice it in sales and we notice during those periods more people come in looking for more non-alcohol products.

“You see things like no-secco becoming quite popular now, it’s easier to keep the texture of a sparking style wine.”

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Main image: Wine for sale in a supermarket in October 2017. Picture by: Gordon Scammell / Alamy Stock Photo