Austria Opens First Wine De-alcoholization Plant Amid Rising Demand

Austrian winemakers no longer need to travel to Germany for alcohol removal services, as the country's first de-alcoholization plant has opened in Hadersdorf am Kamp. The Toifl family, known for supplying wines to retailers like Lidl, invested approximately 2 million euros in the facility, which began operations in June. This move addresses a growing market trend favoring wines with reduced alcohol content.

Barbara Toifl, a member of the winemaking family, noted a significant decline in sales for classic wines, particularly red varieties. "We have noticed that products with less alcohol have a greater turnover than, for example, a classic Grüner Veltliner," she stated, highlighting the shift in consumer preference. The new plant is capable of processing around 15,000 liters of wine per day.

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It is so that we too are experiencing ever greater sales declines with classic wine.

The de-alcoholization process at the Hadersdorf facility combines vacuum distillation and reverse osmosis. Wine is separated into aromatic compounds and extracts on one side, and water and alcohol on the other. The water-alcohol mixture is then vacuum distilled at approximately 37 degrees Celsius to remove the alcohol. The remaining low-alcohol liquid is recombined with the concentrated "wine essence," which contains the aromatic components and acidity.

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And we have noticed that products with less alcohol have a greater turnover than, for example, a classic Grüner Veltliner.

According to Christoph Toifl, repeating this process three to four times is necessary to reduce the alcohol content to below 0.5% by volume, the threshold for being considered alcohol-free. Achieving 0.0% requires about seven cycles. The plant, imported from Italy, is the eighth of its kind globally and utilizes technology that filters out aromas before the distillation process. This method aims to preserve the wine's flavor profile, avoiding the "cooked" taste that can result from traditional vacuum distillation where aromas must be recovered separately.

Toifl advises selecting highly aromatic grape varieties for de-alcoholization, as alcohol itself is a significant flavor carrier. He also noted that de-alcoholizing red wines can be challenging due to the difficulty of making the concentrated tannins palatable. Several well-known winemakers have already utilized the new facility for their wines.

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You have to make sure that you choose very aromatic varieties.