Dealcoholisation
What it is
Dealcoholisation removes ethanol from a wine that has already fermented. It is not arrested fermentation and not unfermented must: it starts from a finished wine and lowers its strength. In the EU the baseline is Regulation (EU) 2021/2117. It allows vacuum evaporation, membrane techniques (reverse osmosis, nanofiltration, osmotic distillation) and distillation.
Two method families show up in practice. Under vacuum distillation, ethanol leaves as vapour at low pressure; the platform pages (spinning cone, GoLo, ClearAlc, Equalizer) are ways to run that method. Under membrane techniques, reverse osmosis lets ethanol and water pass as liquid; osmotic distillation lets ethanol cross as vapour through a hydrophobic membrane without the wine itself going through the filter. They are not interchangeable.
For alcohol-free / dealcoholised wine
Removing ethanol is not only a label number. Alcohol builds body, helps aromas lift, adds a hint of perceived sweetness and keeps microbes in check. Taking it out usually opens three fronts: aroma stripping, a lighter mouthfeel (often rebuilt with glycerol), and closer attention to bottle stability. noalc’s editorial job is not to crown a “best method”, but to show what each route does and what is put back afterwards.
Label / EU note
Regulation 2021/2117 distinguishes dealcoholised and partially dealcoholised wine. Fully dealcoholised wine (in practice ≤ 0.5 % vol.) cannot carry a PDO/PGI. Regulation (EU) 2026/471 harmonises, from September 2027, shelf mentions (“alcohol-free”, “0,0 %”, “reduced alcohol”). Detail: wine law in Europe 2026. This is not legal advice.