Following on from our second Rascalism, vegan wines, we spend this week looking at the trend of lower alcohol wine. Consumers are seeking wines with a lower ABV for numerous reasons: health, taste or just good old fashioned sore head suspension. Big, bold wines are still very popular, but with the increasing trend in natural wines, we’re finding a shift towards lower ABV’s. It might surprise you that it’s not just the older lunchtime crowd either. Stats show that it is the health-conscious whipper snappers who are after the lower alcohol wine and beer.
Low alcohol wines must have an ABV of 8.5% or less. There are two ways which low alcohol wines are made. First off, the choice of grape varieties. Consumers are becoming more adventurous with their wine choice and are looking for quirkier, more obscure grapes. Some of these are suited to producing lower alcohol wines. These range from Moscato to Vinho Verde and can be quickly harvested and ready to drink straight away. Wines with a low aging life tend to have a lower ABV.
The second way of achieving low alcohol wines is to ‘dealcoholize’ them. We’ve gone one step further and are taking an alcohol-free sparkling wine to London Wine Fair. Our Vallformosa Gran Barón Alcohol Free Cava is a blend of Macabeo, Xarel.lo and Parellada. They achieve this by putting a white wine in a column still, distill it at a low temperature through rotating cone and separate the alcohol from the rest of the ‘wine’. Sounds…cool? Whatever the process, this is a great alternative for those seeking no alcohol.
At Wine Rascals, we are extending our range of low alcohol wines. Come and visit us at Stands Y127 and Y128 upstairs in the Esoterica section at London Wine Fair to try our range.