Abstract
Background: Changes in consumer preference toward less alcoholic wine have contributed to a dramatic increase in demand for wines with reduced or no alcohol content. EU regulation 2021/2117 has also been amended to call dealcoholized products as wine. To meet the demand, oenologists are investigating physical processes to selectively remove alcohol from wines while maintaining their quality and sensory attributes. Our review summarizes recent advances in physical methods and technologies used for dealcoholization and partial dealcoholization of wines.
Methods: A thorough investigation on reverse osmosis (RO), osmotic distillation (OD), vacuum distillation (VD), spinning cone column (SCC), and pervaporation with their impact on the sensory profile of wine was carried out. Moreover, issues related to regulations, consumer preference, dealcoholized products market, and dealcoholization drawbacks on wine stability were also discussed.
Results: A comprehensive overview of the physical processes used for wine dealcoholization is provided. Dealcoholized wines can be made with consistent quality using RO systems, which allows required alcohol reduction without thermal loss. VD and SCC technology enable moderate dealcoholization without thermal loss of volatile components, retaining wine aroma and flavor. Concerns are related to the current Italian legislation, based on a regulation of 2016, which contrasts with the recent EU Regulation 2021/2117 and poses hurdles to dealcoholized wine production.
Conclusions: Physical methods provide an efficient way to produce dealcoholized wine, advances in these methods have allowed large-scale facilities to produce promising high-quality, low-alcohol wines to meet the changing taste environment. Further study is needed to optimize process parameters, improve sensory profile, and prolong shelf life. Aligning the current Italian legislation to the EU policy is advised to simplify the production. Moreover, this study was performed under Task 3.2.4. Ref. Spoke 3 OnFoods.