(Manfred Klimek / Editorial team / animated pic: runwayml
Anyone who claims today that German or Austrian society has become stagnant will find themselves contradicted by the wine-growing sector, of all places. Not by start-ups, not by universities, not by government departments. But by ‘cultural farmers’ – the community of winegrowers who are broadening the meaning of the word ‘culture’ to include innovation.
This week I’ve been working on a major feature on non-alcoholic and low-alcohol wines, which will soon be published in *WELT am SONNTAG*. I had expected a lot of marketing, a few half-baked experiments and plenty of grumbling. What I found was something completely different: an industry that is moving faster than its reputation suggests.
That’s surprising. For years, wine was seen as a counter-movement to technological advancement. Whilst other food industries were constantly developing new processes, viticulture celebrated a return to tradition. Spontaneous fermentation instead of selected yeasts. Amphorae instead of stainless steel. Horses instead of tractors. The less technology was visible, the greater the longing among many consumers seemed to be.
Now something remarkable is happening. Technology is making a comeback. And not as a bogeyman, but as a solution.
Winemakers such as Hannes Sabathi in Southern Styria, Johannes Leitz in the Rheingau, Christoph Hammel in the Palatinate, Gregory Emmel with Haardt Hills, and even the more traditionally oriented Richter winery on the Moselle are now also focusing intensively on alcohol-free wines. Not with the often somewhat clueless ‘proxies’ that merely seek to replace wine, but with genuine wine from which the alcohol is removed after fermentation. Just a few years ago, the result was often unappealing. The wines seemed thin, hollow, unfinished. It was easy to see why many wine drinkers scoffed at the category.
But things have changed since then. The processes have improved. Cellar techniques have become more precise. The sensory results are more convincing. Above all, however, a new category has emerged that bridges the gap between the two worlds: partially de-alcoholised wines. Often supplemented with verjus – the juice of unripe grapes. The finest examples retain the terroir, fruit and structure of a wine, whilst forgoing some of that alcoholic intensity which many young consumers now view with increasing scepticism.
This is precisely where the social paradox begins. For the very same generation that views technology critically in many areas of life is suddenly demanding it when it comes to wine. They question industrial processes, want to consume regionally, sustainably and mindfully – yet at the same time demand drinks with less alcohol, more control and greater suitability for everyday consumption. Without technology, this would be impossible.
The wine industry is responding to this in a remarkably pragmatic way. Whilst large sections of society remain paralysed by debate, winemakers are experimenting. They try things out, discard them, improve upon them and start afresh. This is precisely what winemaking has always done. Even the methods revered today as traditional were once innovations. The important thing, however, is that through these experiments, winegrowers are by no means abandoning the organic or biodynamic approaches they have already adopted in the vineyard. The heavy-handed use of chemicals will not make a comeback there.
The debate over alcohol-free wine is often conducted in an unnecessarily ideological manner. For some, it is a betrayal of a cultural practice dating back millennia. For others, it is the only morally acceptable future. Neither argument is particularly convincing. For the most exciting producers have long been pursuing a different approach. They do not wish to replace classic wine. They want to complement it. The glass of 12.5 per cent Riesling isn’t going anywhere. Neither is the 13.5 per cent Blaufränkisch. But a new space is emerging between mineral water and Pinot Noir. A space for people who want to drink less alcohol without giving up wine.
For decades, the wine industry was forced to defend itself against accusations of being behind the times. Today, this very sector is demonstrating how adaptation can work without sacrificing one’s own identity. And perhaps this will also mark the end of the short-lived popularity of wine substitutes. After all, why would anyone drink a beverage that merely imitates wine when winemakers are now learning to produce convincing alcohol-free wine themselves? The future of alcohol-free enjoyment could therefore emerge, of all places, where many would have least expected it: in the wine cellar.
The wine industry has long since set out on this path.