Non-alcoholic wine: how is it made and is it possible to drink during pregnancy

The recipe for non-alcoholic wine was patented at the very beginning of the XNUMXth century, this product has become widespread only now. It has become an integral part of the so-called wellness industry with its electronic cigarettes, organic products and variously questionable nutritional supplements.

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A few words about non-alcoholic wine

Today, non-alcoholic wines, the brands of which cover almost the entire range of the wine industry (for example, there are: non-alcoholic dry red wine, its dry white counterpart – natural non-alcoholic wine Chardonnay, non-alcoholic sparkling wine, ethanol-free rosé and even non-alcoholic ginger wine), in a very significant volume are manufactured by several dozen manufacturers.

For example, German non-alcoholic wine is represented on the market by brands such as Karl Jung and Dreissigacker, Spanish by Freixenet and Matarromera, French non-alcoholic wine is represented by La Côte de Vincent, and Italian by Winezero.

The drink is also produced in the USA (a typical example is Ariel Vineyards), the Czech Republic (Bohemia Sekt) and even in Belarus (non-alcoholic wine “Ambassador” of the Minsk Grape Wines Factory).

These and other producers of the mentioned drink unanimously claim that their delicious non-alcoholic wine, whose composition does not differ from the usual except for the absence of ethanol, can brighten up the lives of many consumer groups.

Among the latter, first of all, are called adherents of a healthy lifestyle, people who are forced to avoid alcohol due to medical reasons, as well as people suffering from alcoholism, but seeking to get rid of this harmful addiction.

In addition, according to all the same manufacturers, nothing prevents you from drinking non-alcoholic wine while driving, during pregnancy and while breastfeeding.

Below, Vzboltay will try to figure out how all these statements are true, and whether this actively promoted drink is really as tasty and healthy as they say.

How non-alcoholic wine is made

Let’s first look at how and from what non-alcoholic wine is made.

At this (last) stage, the production of non-alcoholic wine can be carried out in several different ways.

First of all, the release of ethanol from the drink is achieved by pasteurizing the wine; i.e., its six-minute heat treatment at a temperature of 80-82 ° C, followed by cooling. However, with this simplest procedure, which even allows the production of non-alcoholic wine at home, the taste and aromatic properties of the drink suffer significantly.

Two other ways:

1. Reverse osmosis

   Filtration through a finely porous membrane, used in particular in salt water desalination and thin-film evaporation, is quite lengthy and also does not contribute to the preservation of the authentic taste and aroma of the “blood” of the vine.

2. Vacuum distillation

   Allows the actual pasteurization of the drink at a gentle temperature not exceeding 27 °C. It is this method, proposed at the dawn of the last century, that is used by the enterprises of the healthy lifestyle industry.

It must be admitted that the vacuum distillation method allows you to get the final product as close as possible to its alcoholic counterpart. However, this proximity is relative.

This is just a comparison with the wines obtained using the three previous methods.

A drink produced by vacuum distillation, although it tastes like ordinary wine, but at the same time, devoid of its alcoholic component, it gives the impression of emasculated or even exhausted.

The aromatic bouquet of the drink, due to the absence of volatile compounds of ethanol, is not able to open up in its entirety and therefore also loses in comparison with the classic original version.

To top it all, it should be noted that such wine is significantly more expensive than its alcohol-containing counterparts.

The reason for this, in fact, is the presence of the above-mentioned additional stage, which rids the drink of alcohol.

The benefits and harms of non-alcoholic wine

Positive traits

1. Preservation of all trace elements useful for the human body present in ordinary wine.

2. A lower calorie content of a soft drink, in comparison with its classic version, as well as a lower sugar content (the latter circumstance is especially strongly suggested to pay attention to people with diabetes).

But at the same time, winemakers of the new generation are somewhat cunning, not pointing out harm non-alcoholic wine, to which some groups of their target audience may be exposed.

First of all, we are talking about people trying to escape from the captivity of an alcoholic nightmare. The fact is that despite all the manipulations with wine, it still contains up to 0,5% alcohol.

And if for a healthy person this circumstance does not play a role, then with alcohol dependence, even this insignificant fraction of ethanol can serve as a fatal cause of a breakdown.

Not everything is clean in the case of drivers. If you get behind the wheel immediately after two or three glasses of a supposedly safe drink, you can run into a decent fine or, if you’re not at all lucky, you can lose your driver’s license.

The reason for this is the same tenths of a percent of alcohol that can appear on the device of a meticulous traffic police officer. That is, the same annoying nuisance can happen, as in the case of drinking half a liter of kefir on the track.

Is it possible to drink alcohol-free wine during pregnancy

In a separate line, in view of their special importance, there are questions: are there any contraindications for non-alcoholic wine for pregnant women and is it possible for a nursing mother to drink non-alcoholic wine?

After all, whatever you say, but in this case we are talking not about one life, but at least two.

Although a number of doctors believe that the use of the mentioned drink during pregnancy and lactation is harmless for both the mother and the child, an equally large cohort of specialists holds the opposite point of view.

In their opinion, which should be heeded, drinking any wine (including non-alcoholic) can provoke allergic processes, to which the aforementioned group of women is especially vulnerable.

As you know, the causative agent of allergies from alcoholic beverages is not alcohol, as such, but a number of other components contained in bottles of laughing liquid.

In the case of wine, the allergen can be grape juice itself, sulfur compounds (sulfides) used as preservatives, and even chemical fertilizers sprayed on vineyards.

Conclusions from Shake

In our opinion, the dubious pleasure, and sometimes the absolutely unambiguous harm from the use of non-alcoholic wine, which, whatever one may say, is just an ersatz product, is not worth the money that manufacturers ask for it.

1. If you have seriously decided to defeat alcoholism, have healthy offspring, or are just going to drive, you should simply realize the need for temporary or permanent sobriety without any imitations, simulations and pathetic attempts to deceive your body (here, as they say: either take off the cross or put on pants).

2. If you are afraid that you will feel awkward around friends, then either these are not very real friends, or you yourself do not consider them as such.

3. If you just want to lead a healthy lifestyle, then believe that one or two glasses of good authentic wine, missed in a pleasant campaign, will not be a hindrance to that.

Relevance: 08.10.2016

Tags: wine and vermouth