Alcohol-free beers are on almost all restaurant menus. Also, there is a huge variety in the shops. Alcohol-free wine, however, is still rare. But it seems that it is slowly gaining ground.
Demand is increasing
More and more winemakers are bringing alcohol-free wines to market because demand is growing. Many people are consciously abstaining from alcohol, according to a report by industry experts. Traditional wine lovers may sometimes find this new product a little strange, but it was the same with vegan food, in time everything will be normal and socially acceptable.
High demand was also the reason why the Juliusspital winery in Würzburg added the non-alcoholic wine to its range two years ago. After a rather modest start, the quantity doubled in the second year.
Alcohol-free wine production
The total consumption of alcohol-free wine in Germany, according to the German Wine Institute in Bodenheim near Mainz, does not even reach 1%, but the trend is increasing. This is also shown by the fact that smaller wineries are supplying the market with some small quantities of alcohol-free wine, says institute spokesman Ernst Biescher.
Carl Jung from Riedesheim has a tradition of removing alcohol from wine for 115 years. The family business produces about 10 million liters of non-alcoholic wine per year. Most of it, 70%, is exported to Scandinavia, Canada and Great Britain, among others.
More expensive wine without alcohol
The alcohol removal process increases the price. Finally, there is one more issue and that is the taste. There is a big difference with non-alcoholic beer. Expert Isabelle Bitchenhofer points out that beer has a lower alcohol content than wine, so it doesn’t deviate as much from the original taste.
With wine, things are different and even more difficult with organic alcohol-free wines. To maintain a good taste in alcohol-free wine it must be pasteurized, that is, it is heated in the bottle. These additional work steps also have an impact on the price though.
