Lowering alcohol

Question 1

Options to lower alcohol (9)

Answer 1

• picking dates
• site selection
• varieties
• water additions
• yeast choice
• vessel type
• stopping fermentation
• blending
• dealcoholisation via spinning cone, reverse osmosis and vacuum distillation MOST EFFECTIVE

Question 2

Picking dates

Answer 2

Choosing to harvest earlier at a lower potential alcohol.
An option in moderate climate with long growing season.
A less appealing option in warmer climates with compressed growing seasons such as Clare Valley and Washington, where physiological ripeness may not line up with ideal alcohol.

Question 3

Site selection + example

Answer 3

Choosing to farm on sites with lower summer temperatures can yield fruit with lower potential alcohol.
Loosen: has expanded cooler, high elevation vineyards for Kabinett wines. Heritage sites are becoming too warm.

Question 4

Varieties

Answer 4

Selection of new varieties (where legal) that achieve flavor ripeness at lower sugar levels.
An option for new world or IGP wines where new varieties can be explored.
Example: Muscat achieves characteristic flavors below 20 brix or 12% abv.

Question 5

Water additions

Answer 5

Addition of water to must (where legal) can lower the sugar and thus the potential alcohol.
Example: fully legal in USA. Legal in Australia to lower to 13.5%.

Question 6

Yeast choice + vessel type

Answer 6

Yeast choice and vessel have a subtle impact on alcohol levels. Open top vessels can result in lower levels of alcohol as the alcohol does not condense in the top of the closed tank.

Question 7

Stopping fermentation

Answer 7

Halting of fermentation will yield residual sugar and a lower alcohol level. This is an option for some high acid white wines such as Riesling or Chenin Blanc, but not appropriate for most red wines or whites with lower acidity.
Example: German Kabinett wines will have a potential alcohol of approximately 12% if fermented dry. Halting fermentation results in wines with approximately 8% abv.

Question 8

Blending

Answer 8

High alcohol wines can be blended with lower alcohol wines to ameliorate the alcohol. However, in a cellar many wines from the same vintage may have similar alcohol levels due to vintage characteristics. This may not be helpful for vintage-dated wines from smaller designated regions or estates.
Example: Champagne blending, high level of vintage variation means that warmer vintage wines can be blended with cooler vintage wines to achieve a base wine of approximately 11.5%.

Question 9

Dealcoholization

Answer 9

Mechanical processes including spinning cone, reverse osmosis, and vacuum distillation are a highly effective way of lowering alcohol. Essence of wine is removed by vacuum distillation, alcohol is removed and essence is added back.

Dunn Vineyards: sends all wines out for reverse osmosis except in coolest years. Costly, but does not impact flavors.
Cline/Jacuzzi, Sonoma: Use of reverse osmosis “sweet spotting” with WineSecrets and Mavrik. Use of spinning cone with ConeTech.

Legal now in Europe. A 20% reduction in alcohol level as long as the wine meets minimum AOP abv. 15% abv can be reduced by 3% to 12%.