On January 11th in Sauveterre de Guyenne, a new stage in the development of the No/Low market was reached. After two years of work, it was under the impetus of the pioneers Bordeaux Families and B&S Tech that the first French dealcoholization unit for all the players in the wine industry was inaugurated. 

Indeed, for the past month, B&S Tech has been offering a complete and qualitative 100% French offer across the entire value chain, from product development to bottling, in partnership with Bordeaux Families.

Already founding members of the No/Low wine collective, the union of cooperative societies Bordeaux Families and B&S TECH, the expert in the development and industrialization of low and non-alcoholic beverages, have made it possible through their association to take a big step forward by finally offering a complete and local solution to the growing market demand. 

At a time when the few French pioneers of No/Low had to use services outside our borders, it is the guarantee of French know-how in line with the environmental challenges of the sector (logistics, low-emission industrial equipment) that comes at the right time at a time when a real acceleration of the market has manifested itself in an obvious way during the 2024 edition of a Wine Paris that has just closed its doors.

    First of all, the Degré Zéro trade show, the first trade show entirely dedicated to dealcoholized beverages. At the initiative of the company Break Events, which specializes in the organization of professional events for the promotion of wines and spirits, this first event was already looking promising as the show was already sold out more than a week before its opening. 

Taking up residence at the Musée du Vin (Paris 16th) on the eve of the start of Wine Paris, the timing was perfect for both exhibitors and visitors. 

    And the announced success was confirmed! 30min of queuing outside, aisles full of visitors and difficulty to move around! B&S Tech was of course present at this event to present its offer and the latest launches of its customers, but also as a founding member of the No/Low wine collective, partner of the event and which BREAK EVENTS joined in January.

    A success that put all the No/Low players in very good conditions to start Wine Paris the next day! 

    Indeed, Monday, February 12 was the opening of the Vinexpo-Wine Paris 2024 trade show at the Porte de Versailles Exhibition Center, which is now the unmissable event for the wine trade. Bringing together more than 4000 French and international exhibitors this year, the show is a key moment to observe new market trends and the latest innovations. And if last year the presence of No/Low products was still very shy, this year, it was impossible to miss it! Between a dedicated space within the Be Spirit Pavilion, six masterclasses/round tables that addressed the subject over the three days, nearly forty exhibitors/producers offering a range of dealcoholized wines, and above all the front page of Les Echos Spécial Vin at the opening of the show which headlined: "Wine is taking the wave of alcohol-free", it is no longer possible to ignore this trend!

    Present in the Wine Tech Pavilion, the B&S Tech booth was full for 3 days welcoming producers, buyers, merchants, distributors curious to know more about this trend and especially to taste our latest innovations which prove that alcohol-free wine is no longer a low-end product. 

    This is a strong message that our CEO Stéphane Brière wanted to convey during the round table organized on Wednesday 14 February by the no/low wine collective (of which B&S Tech is a founding member): "Alcohol-free wine is not a by-product of wine". It has been said over and over again, dealcoholized wine brings diversification to the winemakers’ offer to meet consumer expectations and enhance the market. 

A message that seems to be better and better received and understood by the various actors, despite the last detractors. 

    In the end, an extremely positive assessment of these 2 shows for B&S Tech which confirms the potential of the No/Low market in which we have believed for nearly 5 years now. Now it's time to turn the contacts made into new projects and future successes! The year has only just begun, and we are sure that it will be promising for this beautiful No/Low category. 

This new consumer expectation is manifesting itself at different speeds around the world, and by 2022 will already represent a global market of 11 billion dollars, with projected growth of 7 to 10% a year over the next 10 years.

The challenge for the beer, wine and spirits industries is to develop innovative know-how to create the quality products that will meet these expectations. 

This is the mission of B&S TECH, which in the space of 4 years has become the leading technical solutions platform for the development and industrialization of No/Low beverages.

In this context, it was important for VIVELYS to launch its new range, BOISE ABSOLU, the fruit of 10 years of in-house research and 3 years of intensive development, thus introducing a revolutionary instant technique to the world of No/Low beverages.

Both pioneers in their field, B&S TECH and VIVELYS have naturally joined forces to bring their respective skills to bear on this market, now seen as a real opportunity for the beer, wine and spirits industries. 

"The growth prospects for No/Low beverages are based on a move upmarket and an increase in consumption frequency. From a sensory point of view, dealcoholization involves major technical challenges, and innovation is now at the heart of this market's development", explains Stéphane BRIERE, Managing Director of B&S Tech.

"It was important for us to invent a new Boisé concept, rooted in our DNA in order to meet the technical challenges of this market, and we have succeeded," confirms Karine HERREWYN, Vivelys Managing Director. 

"BOISE ABSOLU is a 100% natural oak extract of exceptional quality, incredibly concentrated and endowed with a striking aromatic intensity. As such, it's a true breakthrough innovation," she continues.

This collaboration with B&S Tech helped Vivelys to characterize the contribution of its oenological woods throughout the dealcoholization process. 

For his part, Stéphane Brière considers that for B&S Tech "this experimentation plan carried out over several months with Vivelys has enabled us to refine our practices and wood selection. The results of these trials open up new perspectives for us to support our customers in their quest for quality products".

Boisé Absolu is composed of 4 natural extracts from the iconic Boisé France references. Each of these extracts brings complexity and aromatic intensity, from fresh oak notes to vanilla, toasted, spicy or smoky notes, and increases sweetness and length in the mouth.

B&S TECH and Vivelys are members of the No/Low wine collective.

Indeed, current dealcoholization technologies and know-how have a number of limitations that slow down the emergence of new products.

This is a challenge for the wine industry because consumers, anxious to reduce their alcohol consumption, are beginning to turn away from wine and choose other lighter alcoholic beverages such as beer. It is also a great opportunity for the sector to expand its customer base by being able to offer wine products to non-alcohol consumers.

This is why it seemed necessary to us at B&S TECH to understand more deeply the organoleptic transformation of wine related to dealcoholization in order to be able to characterize the avenues for improvement to be investigated both in terms of the process and the selection of wines.

It is in the context of these reflections that we met Gilles de Revel, professor of oenology at the Institute of Winery and Wine Sciences (ISVV), at the University of Bordeaux and specialist in the composition of wines and spirits, their chemical and sensory analysis. 

We therefore decided to organize with him a tasting workshop with a dozen experts to whose palate we submitted a dozen dealcoholized wines by mixing their colors and grape varieties (red, rosé and white) and their terroirs. The wines have been dealcoholized in our B&S TECH laboratory with the principle of vacuum evaporation. 

Once again this year, B&S Tech participated in the fair with a stand on the WineTech Pavilion! 🍷

Indeed, the show had not forgotten to honor innovative companies in the wine sector and the Wine Tech Perspectives Pavilion was the worthy representative. 

Bringing together about forty start-ups (belonging to the Wine Tech collective) that have developed innovations at different levels (production, processing, conservation, management or distribution), the pavilion was a space entirely dedicated to innovation with conferences, a connected bar and other activities highlighting the future of wine.

B&S Tech was of course one of the start-ups present, in addition to our stand, several animations were planned over the three days of the show:

A tasting of our customers' dealcoholized wines at the connected bar, which showcased the new alcohol-free range from MODERATO – the pioneers of low-no

The passage of our partner winegrowers such as Guillaume de Rosnay for the Zéro de Rochefort or Coralie de Boüard for Prince Oscar

And above all, a round table on the challenges of the new market of dealcoholized wines which was a great success with an audience that had responded to this unique meeting addressing the subject of no-low alcohol in wine. It was an opportunity to have the testimony of producers such as Mathilde Boulachin, founder of Chavin or Sébastien Thomas, co-founder of Moderato but also regulatory bodies with Ignacio Sanchez Recarte of CEEV and Jean-Claude Ruf scientific director at the OIV. 

But what exactly is behind these names? What is allowed and not allowed by the regulations? What are the processes? 

Let's take a moment to go back in detail on this major change for the no-low alcohol wine market.

    To respond to the growing phenomenon of light and alcohol-free wines, the new European Regulation 2021/2117 of 2 December 2021 has created two new labelling terms for wines that have undergone a dealcoholization treatment: 

"Dealcoholized wine" and "Partially dealcoholized wine".

    This applies to wines, sparkling wines, carbonated sparkling wines and semi-sparkling wines.

For aromatized wine products: there is no equivalent provision in EU Regulation 251/2014 at the moment. 

    In addition, the European regulation also specifies the dealcoholization technologies authorized to be able to use the mentioned terms: 

3 dealcoholization techniques are authorized :

    ‐ Membrane techniques (reverse osmosis) 

    -Distillation 

    -Partial vacuum evaporation 

    In reality, distillation and vacuum evaporation are based on the same physical principle, on the other hand, there are two types of machines that can carry out dealcoholization following this principle (the Spinning Cone Column and the packing column). 

The regulation also states that the oenological practices allowed on wines BEFORE dealcoholization are still applicable.

On the other hand, a big topic remains unresolved concerning oenological practices AFTER dealcoholization. The subject is currently being discussed in the committees and by the OIV in order to authorize the practices necessary for the development of quality dealcoholized wines. 

    This last point will be very important to frame the market and thus sort between wines using dealcoholization technologies and other drinks based on grape juice or fermented grapes that will not be able to use the terms and will, logically, must leave the wine shelves. 

    B&S Tech actively participates in exchanges to ensure the development of quality dealcoholized wines! We will therefore not fail to inform you of the progress on this subject. 

Stay tuned !