How is Alcohol-Free wine made?

A common remark we often face when talking about alcohol-free wine is; “Alcohol-free wine? Isn’t that just simply grape juice?” Well (as regular customers at TimeforAlcoholFree.co.uk have already learned) alcohol-free wine is nothing like grape juice! Alcohol-free wines are basically (normal) alcoholic wines that are de-alcoholized. In other words; real wine from which the alcohol is removed retrospectively by the producer.

There are several ways to remove alcohol from wine. For the range of wines we at TimeforAlcoholFree.co.uk offer, one uses a very modern technique. First of all the wines are heated. Absolutely not boiled, heated! We also hear that occasionally, and that is definitely not the case. After all, boiling it would damage the wine which would leave you with a bad taste.

On average the wine is heated (in large barrels) up to 25-28 degrees Celcius. As such the alcohol lightly starts to evaporate, as if you were to put a glass of wine in the sun. By means of a vacuum the alcohol is extracted from the wine barrels.

This process is repeated three times. After the third time a maximum of 0.5% alcohol will remain. This 0.5% is a (European) statutory maximum used to call a drink alcohol-free.

However, many wines from the range of TimeforAlcoholFree.co.uk contains a much less amount of alcohol. For instance, the wines from Eisburg contain a maximum of 0.05% alcohol.

The drawing below supplied by our supplier Weinkönig, clearly explains the process.