Do we have to remove degrees from the wine?

During fermentation, the sugar in the grapes is transformed into alcohol.Abel Valdenebro

In almost all the forecasts of wine trends for this year there are two elements that are repeated: concern for health and non-alcoholic or low-alcohol wines that already have their own name: NOLO (

no alcohol and low alcohol

).

All of this accentuated by the Anglo-Saxon tradition of

Dry January,

a January month of abstinence to purify the body of Christmas excesses, which, judging by the number of headlines and posts generated at the beginning of 2024, is here to stay, as Christmas or Halloween.

The background wave is the change in public policies on alcohol that are moving from moderate consumption to zero intake.

Things looked very different in the early 1990s, when University of Bordeaux scientist Serge Renaud revealed the “French paradox” on the CBS program

60 Minutes

: thanks to the fact that moderate wine consumption compensated for a rich diet in fats, the incidence of coronary heart disease in France was particularly low.

The discovery boosted wine consumption in the United States.

More information

The Eme sandwich, the best in the world, say those from Bilbao

Three decades later, the Lifestyle, Diet, Wine & Health congress,

held in Toledo in October 2023, highlighted the complexity of reaching valid conclusions for all population groups, the discrepancies in the interpretation of the data and the difficulty of highlighting positive aspects of moderate consumption in a context in which begin to see alcohol as the next tobacco.

How much is moderate?

The scientists meeting in Toledo aimed at two drinks a day;

In Canada there are now two drinks for the whole week.

During the thousands of years that wine has accompanied man, it has served as food (this is still recognized by the Law of Vine and Wine of 2003), a vehicle for celebration and escape, an offering, an antiseptic, a healing drink and even part of the salary paid in kind.

Today it is part of the realm of enjoyment, celebration, and gastronomy.

It's an adult pleasure.

The reality hidden behind a glass of wine also contains its paradoxes.

As the country with the largest vineyard area in the world, we have consumption figures noticeably lower than neighbors with a similar wine-growing tradition such as France, Italy or Portugal.

Or that now that there is so much concern about emptied Spain, there is no more emphasis on the added value that wine can bring to rural areas.

There are significant examples such as Priorat (Catalonia), Ribera del Duero (Castilla y León) or some Galician areas.

The vine articulates the landscape and life of numerous Spanish regions.

Wine is more than alcohol.

The novelty now is that technology makes it possible to eliminate that element under debate.

The process is different from that of beer, which usually uses controlled fermentation at a low temperature and with fewer yeasts to prevent them from coming into contact with sugars and generating alcohol.

In NOLOs, the starting point is an already made wine from which the volatile compounds (aromas) are extracted and then the alcohol.

The product is then recomposed, returning the aromas (although some remain by the wayside) and filling the more or less large space left by the alcohol, normally with must from the grape itself, which implies a sweetening of the flavor.

The main conclusion of a comparative NOLO tasting organized last year is that these wines may appeal to consumers whose priority is to enjoy a non-alcoholic drink, but they are far from offering the levels of intensity, texture, depth of flavors and balance of a typical wine.

The examples that worked best were based on wines of moderate alcohol content and used aromatic varieties that better preserved their attributes.

Increasing demand for non-alcoholic products is generating interest in the wine industry, including respected producers in Germany such as Dr. Loosen.

This year the ProWein fair will have an area dedicated to NOLOs.

There you can try theoretically healthier products, but also—and here a new paradox arises—very heavily intervened.

Three wines to face this 2024, alcohol-free or with moderate alcohol content.

Natureo 2022

Tussío 2022

Eclectic 2021