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The New Zealand winery Forrest Wines has discovered a method to reduce the alcohol content in wines already during the growth and ripening phase on the vine. To do this, the foliage must be divided vertically into three parts. According to this method, the upper third has the best photosynthesis performance and stores the most sugar in the grapes, while the middle third forms significantly less sugar. The lower third basically only exists to protect the grapes. Forrest removes the leaves in the top third so that the middle part of the foliage has to do the work of the top. This, however, is not as efficient and forces the vine to concentrate on developing the aromatic substances. This would result in wines with full flavour but up to a third less alcohol.
According to Beth Forrest, the timing of the removal of the leaves is crucial for the method to work. The berries must already be more than halfway through veraison (colour change), because before that little sugar is produced, which the vines needed to survive the winter. It had taken almost twelve years and many trials to get a Sauvignon Blanc with low alcohol but full flavour, she said, because the system was difficult to control. She also applied the process to Pinot Noir, but there it only worked on old vines, as the foliage of a Pinot is very delicate.
"We learned that sugar, acidity and taste are not connected and so we realised that we could reduce the sugar a lot without affecting the taste and acidity," says Beth Forrest.
Forrest Wines has released a Sauvignon Blanc and a Pinot Noir, each at 9.5% vol, using this process. In most reduced-alcohol wines, the alcohol is removed by a physical process, but this often removes flavours. The market for wines with lower alcohol content grew by 11.7 percent in 2022, according to the market research institute Nielsen.
(al / source: wine-searcher)