SIMEI 2026 and the Evolution of Dealcoholized Wines: Managing Technological Stress with CDR WineLab®

Since the last edition of SIMEI in 2024, the dealcoholized wine sector has taken a significant leap forward: from an experimental segment to a new area of growth for the wine industry.

On the eve of SIMEI 2026, the focus is no longer solely on the technologies needed to remove alcohol. The challenge is shifting to the next step: understanding what happens to the wine after treatment and how to manage a matrix whose balance has been profoundly altered by the dealcoholization process.

In fact, dealcoholization does not simply mean removing ethanol. It also affects the wine’s overall balance, simultaneously altering its stability, microbiological protection, dissolved gas content, aromatic profile, and, in some cases, its palate structure.

For this reason, analytical testing after dealcoholization is becoming an increasingly important part of the production process.

Today, the production of dealcoholized and partially dealcoholized wines relies primarily on three physical technologies, each of which affects the chemical and physical balance of the product in a different way.

Reverse Osmosis
This process uses high-pressure tangential filtration through semipermeable membranes to separate the wine into two fractions. Tannins, pigments, acids, and other compounds with higher molecular weights are retained in the retentate, while water and ethanol pass through the membrane to form the permeate.

The water-alcohol fraction is subsequently treated, generally by distillation, to separate the ethanol. The recovered water is then recombined with the retentate.

This process allows for precise control over the reduction in alcohol content, but subjects the wine to multiple stages of separation and recombination, as well as significant mechanical and osmotic stress, which can affect the original balance of the wine matrix.

Vacuum Distillation
By drastically reducing the pressure, the boiling point of ethanol is lowered, and separation can occur at temperatures significantly lower than those of conventional distillation, typically in the range of 25–30 °C.

The goal is to limit thermal damage and preserve the wine’s sensory characteristics as much as possible. However, the process also causes the stripping of dissolved gases and may result in the loss of volatile components and some of the SO₂ present.

After treatment, the wine must therefore be reassessed not only in terms of residual alcohol but also with regard to its antioxidant protection and the new balance of the matrix.

Spinning Cone Columns
Spinning Cone Column technology uses a combination of centrifugal force, vacuum, and steam flows to facilitate the selective separation of volatile components.

The process is typically carried out in several stages: first, the aromatic fraction of the wine is recovered; next, the ethanol is removed; and finally, the previously separated aromas can be reintroduced into the dealcoholized product.

This technology therefore offers a high degree of control over the aromatic component but entails a profound reorganization of the original matrix and its colloidal equilibria.

Different technologies, therefore, but with a common consequence: the wine that emerges from the dealcoholization process no longer exhibits exactly the same chemical, microbiological, and physical equilibria as the starting product.

One of the most significant effects of dealcoholization concerns microbiological stability.

Ethanol is, in fact, one of the factors that naturally help limit the growth of numerous microorganisms in wine. Drastically reducing its concentration therefore means diminishing one of the barriers that contribute to the product’s microbiological stability. Added to this is the potential loss of SO₂ during the treatment and degassing phases. The reduction in sulfur dioxide further diminishes the antioxidant and microbiological protection of the wine matrix. Dealcoholized wine is thus, in some respects, more “exposed”: less protected by the action of ethanol and potentially less protected by SO₂.

The subsequent phase of reconstructing the sensory profile introduces additional variables. The concentration effects associated with certain processes—or the use of must or rectified concentrated must (RCM), employed to restore body, balance, and smoothness to the product—can increase the concentration of fermentable sugars.

The combination of reduced alcohol content, lower microbiological protection, and greater availability of fermentable substrates can make the matrix more vulnerable to the growth of undesirable microorganisms.

Acetic acid bacteria, lactic acid bacteria, and contaminating yeasts—including Brettanomyces—may therefore find conditions more favorable for proliferation than those present in the original wine.

For this reason, the period immediately following dealcoholization is a particularly delicate phase: it is not enough to know how much alcohol has been removed. It is necessary to quickly assess what new equilibria have been established and to monitor the parameters that can promptly signal any deviations.

In a production phase where certain variables can change rapidly, the value of the data also depends on how quickly it becomes available. Waiting for results from an external laboratory or having to rely on complex internal analytical procedures can make it more difficult to take timely action during the phases following dealcoholization.

CDR WineLab® brings analytical control directly into the winery, allowing the winemaker to verify critical parameters immediately after treatment and during subsequent product reconstruction and stabilization operations. The system uses pre-filled reagent vials, disposable test tubes, and guided procedures, allowing tests to be performed without calibrations procedures, specialized glassware, or complex sample preparations. The goal is not merely to obtain an analytical result, but to make that result available at the very moment it can guide a process decision.

Parameters of particular importance in the control of dealcoholized wines include:

Free and total SO₂
Dealcoholization and degassing operations can cause fluctuations in sulfur dioxide levels. Determining free and total SO₂ allows for a rapid assessment of the product’s residual protection and an evaluation of any necessary replenishment to restore adequate antioxidant and microbiological protection.

Acetic acid – Volatile acidity
Acetic acid is an important indicator of the activity of spoilage microorganisms. Monitoring it allows for the early detection of any increases in volatile acidity and enables intervention before the deviation becomes significant, without having to resort to the traditional distillation procedure.

Fermentable sugars – Glucose and fructose
Determining these sugars is particularly important during the phase of reconstructing the flavor profile, especially when must or RMC is used. Knowing the precise concentration of glucose and fructose allows both for calibrating additions and for assessing the amount of residual fermentable substrate—information that is particularly relevant in a matrix that has lost some of the protection provided by ethanol.

L-Malic Acid and L-Lactic Acid
Joint monitoring of these two acids makes it possible to verify the activity of lactic acid bacteria and to detect the onset of unwanted malolactic fermentation. In a matrix with reduced alcohol content, monitoring these parameters therefore allows for closer tracking of the product’s microbiological evolution in the stages following treatment. In this context, rapid analysis becomes an integral part of the process: it allows us to observe what is happening to the matrix and to intervene before an analytical deviation turns into a stability or quality issue.

In recent years, much of the innovation in the dealcoholized wine sector has focused on technologies capable of removing alcohol while preserving the product’s original characteristics as much as possible. The next step, however, concerns what happens afterward. Once the treatment is complete, the producer must re-evaluate the balance of the wine matrix: residual alcohol, fermentable sugars, volatile acidity, organic acids, and SO₂ become essential data for guiding the subsequent stages of reconstruction, stabilization, and quality control of the product.

It is precisely in this area that real-time analysis can play an increasingly important role. SIMEI 2026 represents an important opportunity for discussion on this new phase in non- and low-alcohol winemaking: not only on how to remove alcohol from wine, but also on how to manage the product after treatment, preserving its stability and quality.

Alongside the question “How do we remove alcohol?”, it is therefore becoming increasingly important to ask another: What do we need to monitor once the alcohol has been removed? The technological challenge of dealcoholized wine does not end when the wine leaves the dealcoholization plant. It continues with the ability to intervene promptly on the product’s new balance and keep it under control over time.

Reliable and easy-to-use analytical systems such as CDR WineLab® play a key role in this phase, providing the winery with data that can be used directly during the production process and transforming analytical monitoring from a simple final check into a true process management tool.