As planned, after 2 years of project, the 1st French dealcoholization service center created by Bordeaux Families with the support of B&S TECH opened its doors in the middle of "Dry January" to respond to the development of the No/Low market in the wine sector.

    The popularity of alcohol-free beers and wines is driving European manufacturers to equip themselves with alcohol-removal technologies. 

But what are these technologies? 

    In order to dealcoholise an alcohol (wine, beer or spirits), 3 techniques are available and effective. Let's have a look today at the rotating cone column:

    There are several negative preconceived ideas about the reduction of alcohol applied to finished alcoholic products. Here is a small overview of these stereotypes...

    "Wines are getting stronger". We often hear this sentence which announces that the alcohol level in the wines we drink, especially reds, is getting higher and higher. But is this true, and if so, how can we get back to a more acceptable alcohol level?

    Last year, in order to meet Brexit obligations, London-based wine trading company Liv-ex recorded the alcohol content of over 35,000 wines with a label check on over 20,000 of these wines. The wines were then classified by decade from 1990 to 2020.

The results are alarming: while in California, Burgundy and Italy, alcohol levels are relatively stable (but remain high: 14.6% for California), in Bordeaux, the wines are increasingly powerful. In fact, in the space of 30 years, the alcohol content of Bordeaux wines recorded by Liv-ex has risen from 12.8% to 13.8% on average.

Justin Gibbs, co-founder of Liv-ex comments: "This is a remarkable insight into the significant changes taking place in some of the world's most important fine wine regions”.

    In other French regions, not studied by Liv-ex, this is a real issue: in Côtes-du-Rhône, for example, grapes from the Syrah variety have to be harvested at a high technological maturity, which inevitably leads to an increase in the sugar content of the grapes and therefore a very high alcohol content. This is the same situation for the wines of the South of France, particularly in the Languedoc. And with global warming, this trend does not seem to be abating.

    On the other hand, the French are increasingly fond of lighter, more digestible and therefore less alcoholic wines. This is the observation made by François Lurton, a Bordeaux wine grower from father to son since 1897, who recently launched his first "pet nat": a very low alcohol sparkling wine (around 10%). In another region, it is Tariquet who markets its "Imprévu" and its 9,5%. In the same vein, Moderato and its 5% committed wines are increasingly popular.

    In order to respond to consumer demands and to alleviate the problems caused by global warming, it is now increasingly necessary to reduce the alcohol content of wines. Among the existing solutions, the simplest and most effective is dealcoholisation. Many qualitative techniques exist and are already used to reduce the alcohol content of wines by a few degrees.

As an expert in alcohol reduction techniques, B&S Tech accompanies producers in these steps in order to offer them the dealcoholisation technologies adapted to their needs.

http://dealcoholization.zohosites.com/

    Faced with the growth of the no-low market, producers are organising themselves to develop quality products that meet consumer demands.

    "When I became an oenologist, I never thought I would develop a product without alcohol! Today, technology allows us to do very interesting things. Consumers want to enjoy themselves in a different way," says Beppe Musso, master blender and production manager at Bacardi.

Dealcoholisation technologies make it possible to work with the original product, which has developed all its qualities during the alcoholic fermentation of wine or the brewing of beer, both from the terroir and from the producers' know-how. This is why many prefer to use dealcoholisation, like Bacardi for its new Aperitivo Alcohol Free Martini. "In the mouth, a connoisseur will inevitably feel the lack of alcohol, but the wine remains very present" explains Ivano Tonutti, master herbalist of the Bacardi-Martini group, to the magazine Business & Market. This new Martini is the result of dealcoholisation using a technology widely used in wine, vacuum distillation, which allows the alcohol to be separated from the original product while preserving as much of its original qualities as possible.

Light products are also benefiting from these technologies. For example, the start-up Moderato has developed a light wine (5%) based on another dealcoholisation technology, reverse osmosis. This new type of wine, lighter and more committed, is already attracting many consumers.

    The same is true for brewers. Dealcoholisation technologies are used by the biggest brewers such as Heineken and ABinBev, which, following the success of its Leffe blonde 0.0%, has announced the release of its Leffe Rubby 0.0% version. They are also attracting microbreweries, such as the Quebec brewery BlockAle. "The three-step process preserves the flavour profile of the beer while eliminating the alcohol" says Michael Jean, general manager and founder of the microbrewery.

    The popularity of these technologies requires special expertise. As an expert in dealcoholisation, B&S Tech assists players in the various sectors in their projects for light and alcohol-free products by advising them on the choice of the best technologies for their products. 

http://dealcoholization.zohosites.com/

The popularity of alcohol-free beers and wines is driving European manufacturers to equip themselves with alcohol-removal technologies. 

But what are these technologies? 

In order to dealcoholise an alcohol (wine, beer or spirits), 3 techniques are available and effective. Let's have a look today at the reverse osmosis:

This is a physical process to separate alcohol from other residues through the use of membranes. A mixture of water and alcohol (and a few other molecules such as potassium or organic acids) is extracted by applying a pressure greater than the osmotic pressure of the wine: this is the permeate. It is then a question of eliminating the alcohol from this permeate in order to reintegrate it into the wine already treated and thus limit losses. There are two ways of doing this: using a membrane contactor (removing the alcohol by osmosis using micro-filtration) or by distillation (removing the alcohol by evaporation). The first makes it possible to extract an alcohol content of 10% and the second around 85%.

This is the cheapest technology for reducing the alcohol content of a product by a few degrees and is the least bulky. As a result, it is the means most used by French winegrowers to reduce the alcohol content of wines that are too concentrated in alcohol, especially in very hot and dry years. On the other hand, it is a water-intensive technology, not very suitable for total dealcoholisation and does not allow the initial aromas to be separated and then reincorporated. 

If you are interested in dealcoholisation technologies, do not hesitate to find out more directly on our site, under the heading "dealcoholisation technologies" or to contact us. 

The popularity of alcohol-free beers and wines is driving European manufacturers to equip themselves with alcohol-removal technologies. 

But what are these technologies? 

In order to dealcoholise an alcohol (wine, beer or spirits), 3 techniques are available and effective. 

    The popularity of alcohol-free beers and wines is driving European manufacturers to equip themselves with alcohol-removal technologies. 

But what are these technologies? 

    In order to dealcoholise an alcohol (wine, beer or spirits), 3 techniques are available and effective. Let's have a look today at the rotating cone column:

The press never stops talking about it, the consumption of alcoholic drinks is falling for several years now. (-10% in 10 years according to INSEE). At the same time, new offers of alcohol-free or lighter drinks are appearing which seem to appeal to more and more people. 

But a question remains: how do you lower the alcohol content of a wine or beer?

To date, there are several technologies on the market: 

There is a growing interest in the subject and many people are trying to find the best method of dealcoholisation. This is the case, for example, in Spain, where 5 entrepreneurs have created a machine capable of dealcoholising a bottle of wine in 5 minutes. This technology is still only a prototype, with no commercialization announced yet. 

If you would like to better understand these 3 main technologies and have more details, do not hesitate to visit the technology page of our website desalcoolisation.com.