Release Date: October 31, 2025
It’s time to kick off Season 2 of “Voices of the Vine” with winemaking consultant, Denise Gardner and winemaker, Virginia Mitchell. We’re diving right in, tackeling a very trendy topic for this year: low and no alcohol wines.
Whether you produce 1,000 cases of wine per year or 100,000 cases of wine per year, almost every winery in the U.S. could process a low-alcohol wine. Such possibilities allow wineries of all shapes and sizes to make a low-alcohol product that still tastes like wine, acts like wine, and hits a major market trend going into 2026. But we have noticed a large gap in the discussion of low-alcohol wines, and that is: how do you make them well? In this episode, Denise explains differences between non-alcoholic wines and low-alcohol wines, various options available to wineries for making low-alcohol wines, and shelf-life expectations in today’s market when winemakers produce and sell low-alcohol wines.
Links for things mentioned in this episode:
- The Code of Federal Regulations (CFR): The CFR are codified rules published by the Federal Register. For wine, the CFR outlines American policies and regulations for making “wine” in the United States.
- The CFR details “wine” being above 7% ABV. For the purpose of this episode, especially in relation to production decisions, we consider wines under 10% ABV as “low alcohol wines,” even if the jurisdiction of regulation would change between the TTB and FDA depending on the final alcohol percentage.
- International wines that may be made in a low-alcohol wine style:
- Italian Moscato (Muscat grape variety)
- Italian Brachetto d’Acqui
- Italian Lambrusco
- Some German Rieslings
- Spanish Txakoli
- Some French Beaujolais Nouveau
- In the U.S. there are several grape varieties that could potentially get grouped into low-alcohol wine categories:
- Muscat Varieties
- Native Varieties (Concord, Niagara, Catawba, Muscadine Varieties)
- White Hybrid Varieties (e.g., Cayuga, Seyval, Edelweiss, Brianna, Blanc du Bois)
- Additional low-alcohol possibilities:
- Arresting the fermentation for any wine grape variety
- Piquettes
- Pet-Nats
- No-Alcohol wines, in which alcohol is removed, currently contain less than 0.5% ABV.
- Today, many wineries will be inhibited from producing no-alcohol wines due to:
- Cost
- Volume Minimums
- State Regulations
- Or a combination of those factors, above.
- If you taste enough no-alcohol wines, they do not taste like wine. Low-alcohol wines give many wineries the opportunity to produce something that is lower alcohol that still tastes like wine.
- Fre: Popular no-alcohol wine produced by Trinchero.
- 2025 Recall on Juice Intended for Fermentation
Thank you for listening to another delicious episode of Voices of the Vine. You can find show notes for our episodes by subscribing to the DGW Sip & Swirl, or by visiting the Sip & Swirl Archive, both available at dgwinemaking.com/winelovers. That’s dgwinemaking.com/winelovers with an “s” at the end.
We love to talk about tasting wine on this podcast. Please remember that our podcast is about wine appreciation and education, but that we both support and encourage responsible alcohol consumption. Additionally, both of us are winemaking professionals, so we do not get paid for tasting wine. All opinions expressed here on our podcast are those of ours alone.
Today’s episode is produced, researched, and hosted by both Denise Gardner and myself, Virginia Mitchell. If you enjoyed today’s episode, we’d love for you to subscribe to Voices of the Vine on your favorite podcast platform. Plus, listener reviews go a long way for podcasters. If you could leave us a review on your platform of choice, we’d truly appreciate it.
Thanks for listening.
The views and opinions expressed through dgwinemaking.com are intended for general informational purposes only. Denise Gardner Winemaking does not assume any responsibility or liability for those winery, cidery, or alcohol-producing operations that choose to use any of the information seen here or within dgwinemaking.com.
