# Reducing alcohol in wine
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reducing-alcohol-in-wine/513237
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [October 9, 2009, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reducing-alcohol-in-wine/513237 "2009-10-09T21:19:29Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@JayRx1981](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JayRx1981)
#### Post date: [October 9, 2009, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reducing-alcohol-in-wine/513237/1 "2009-10-09T21:19:29Z")
Is there any way, short of dilution with another liquid (water, non-alcoholic wine), of reducing the content of alcohol in a glass or bottle of wine without seriously affecting the taste?
The reason I’m curious is that I love the taste of a good red wine, but I really don’t care to get drunk these days (nasty sick feeling during the night, very little sleep, takes longer to recover the next day), and the recommended two glasses (at 5oz each) doesn’t seem to last long.
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### Author:  [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)
#### Post date: [October 9, 2009, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reducing-alcohol-in-wine/513237/2 "2009-10-09T22:03:26Z")
I saw some show on TV which showed the process that [Fre wine](http://www.frewines.com/) used to remove alcohol. It was some kind of low temperature centrifugal process that had little effect on the taste of the remaining components of the wine, and hence, not drastically changing the taste of the wine, except for the taste of the alcohol. Nevertheless, I’m sure the alcohol has a significant effect on the taste of wine.
I have no personal experience in tasting this beverage, nor will I in the foreseeable future, but the technology seems sensible.
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### Author:  [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)
#### Post date: [October 9, 2009, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reducing-alcohol-in-wine/513237/3 "2009-10-09T23:04:57Z")
Are you positive the reaction you describe is due to alcohol? Many people get that reaction due to the sulfites that are often found in red wines. If beer, hard liquor and white wines don’t give the same effect, I’d blame the sulfites.
It is possible to look for wines with lower alcohol content - they usually have it listed on the bottle. I’ve seen red wines that vary from 9% to 18%.
Other than that… boiling anything with alcohol preferentially removes alcohol. Alcohol and water form a [forget the chemistry term] of 95% alcohol and 5% water that boils at a lower temp than either alcohol or water separately. But I think the heat will affect the taste.
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### Author:  [@psycat90](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psycat90)
#### Post date: [October 9, 2009, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reducing-alcohol-in-wine/513237/4 "2009-10-09T23:27:05Z")
I can’t think of any way other than diluting with another liquid.
Alcohol has a profound impact on the taste of a wine. My husband and I visited one of the major dealc facilities in town a couple of years ago. There are 2, both are a form of reverse osmosis. [Conetech](http://www.conetech.com/update/spinning-cone-column.html) uses the spinning cones Darryl mentions, and [Vinovation](http://www.vinovation.com/custequip.htm) uses a sort of filtration process. We visited Vinovation. They had one wine, a Zinfandel I think, that they had dealced to varying degrees. It tasted amazingly different at the different alcohol levels, and there was definitely a ‘sweet spot’.
Obviously a consumer doesn’t have these options though. 😉
Your best bet is to look for lower alcohol wines. And keep in mind that under 14% ABV, there is a 1.5% label leeway. So a wine you buy that states 12% could be as high as 13.5% or as low as 10.5%. Still, I think most wines are closer to within .5% of label statement.
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### Author:  [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)
#### Post date: [October 9, 2009, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reducing-alcohol-in-wine/513237/5 "2009-10-09T23:45:04Z")
> [@dracoi](#):
>
> Alcohol and water form a [forget the chemistry term] of 95% alcohol and 5% water that boils at a lower temp than either alcohol or water separately.
azeotrope
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### Author:  [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)
#### Post date: [October 10, 2009, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reducing-alcohol-in-wine/513237/6 "2009-10-10T00:39:09Z")
> [@JayRx1981](#):
>
> Is there any way, short of dilution with another liquid (water, non-alcoholic wine), of reducing the content of alcohol in a glass or bottle of wine without seriously affecting the taste?
>
> The reason I’m curious is that I love the taste of a good red wine, but I really don’t care to get drunk these days (nasty sick feeling during the night, very little sleep, takes longer to recover the next day), and the recommended two glasses (at 5oz each) doesn’t seem to last long.
Homebrewer feels the need to chime in.
Try making your own, you should be able to find a low sugar red to ferment out dry at lower alcohol levels or hunt down a yeast that has a lower dieoff, (say 8-9% alcohol)
Another option, albeit an odd one, is go throught the process like making beer. Beer yeasts do not have the alcohol tolerance that wine strains do and will die off with a much lower alcohol level.
I have done this with fresh fruit juices with very interesting and quite drinkable results.
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### Author:  [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)
#### Post date: [October 10, 2009, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reducing-alcohol-in-wine/513237/7 "2009-10-10T18:01:30Z")
There is an Ethiopian honey wine called _tej_ that tastes, I assume, like mead, though I’ve never had mead. It’s delicious, rather like a really good Gewurtztraminer. It’s about 5% alcohol, and it is actually quite good with food.
Sadly, it’s nothing like a good zinfandel. Well, nothing else is like a good zin. I mostly drink red wine with my dinner, and I do much better repercussion-wise if I try not to drink much before I eat and then have coffee after dinner.
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### Author:  [@BrandonR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrandonR)
#### Post date: [October 10, 2009, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reducing-alcohol-in-wine/513237/8 "2009-10-10T18:54:47Z")
Wait, people drink wine for its _flavor_, independent of it giving you a nice buzz? :dubious:
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### Author:  [@orcenio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orcenio)
#### Post date: [October 10, 2009, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reducing-alcohol-in-wine/513237/9 "2009-10-10T19:06:18Z")
You can always warm up the wine in a pot on the stove; since alcohol has a lower boiling point then water it will boil off quickly leaving the rest of the wine in the pot. If you are afraid that it will change the taste of the wine, then heat up a small amount and see if it works.
Just remember to re-cool the wine before drinking it.
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### Author:  [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)
#### Post date: [October 10, 2009, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reducing-alcohol-in-wine/513237/10 "2009-10-10T20:12:28Z")
Grape juice. It tastes like wine but more fruity, and no alcohol.
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### Author:  [@JayRx1981](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JayRx1981)
#### Post date: [October 10, 2009, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reducing-alcohol-in-wine/513237/11 "2009-10-10T20:17:33Z")
> [@drachillix](#):
>
> Homebrewer feels the need to chime in.
>
> Try making your own, you should be able to find a low sugar red to ferment out dry at lower alcohol levels or hunt down a yeast that has a lower dieoff, (say 8-9% alcohol)
>
> Another option, albeit an odd one, is go throught the process like making beer. Beer yeasts do not have the alcohol tolerance that wine strains do and will die off with a much lower alcohol level.
>
> I have done this with fresh fruit juices with very interesting and quite drinkable results.
Given that I rent an apartment, I’m not sure where I would be able to set up a homebrew apparatus. I suppose I could do so in the garage. How complicated is wine making?
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### Author:  [@JayRx1981](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JayRx1981)
#### Post date: [October 10, 2009, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reducing-alcohol-in-wine/513237/12 "2009-10-10T20:24:40Z")
> [@BrandonR](#):
>
> Wait, people drink wine for its _flavor_, independent of it giving you a nice buzz? :dubious:
Heh, yes, red wine in particular has some fantastic variety of taste to it. Some comes across (to my tongue) with a subtle vanilla flavor, others with a licorice bite, and others with a sour almost citrus taste (my fave). But I hate the feeling of being buzzed anymore. Doesn’t mean I don’t still occasionally do it, but I’m not a fan.
> [@Sage\_Rat](#):
>
> Grape juice. It tastes like wine but more fruity, and no alcohol.
Too sweet for my tastes. One of the reasons I’m not a huge fan of the Sutter Home Fre Merlot or Table Red by itself is that it IS too sweet to me.
> [@orcenio](#):
>
> You can always warm up the wine in a pot on the stove; since alcohol has a lower boiling point then water it will boil off quickly leaving the rest of the wine in the pot. If you are afraid that it will change the taste of the wine, then heat up a small amount and see if it works.
>
> Just remember to re-cool the wine before drinking it.
I may have to give that a try. I’d forgotten the BP of EtOH was lower than H2O for some reason. 🙂
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### Author:  [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)
#### Post date: [October 10, 2009, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reducing-alcohol-in-wine/513237/13 "2009-10-10T21:04:58Z")
> [@JayRx1981](#):
>
> Given that I rent an apartment, I’m not sure where I would be able to set up a homebrew apparatus. I suppose I could do so in the garage. How complicated is wine making?
you can do in a kitchen with enough space to store the bottles somewhere around the house (cool dark spot). you can make it 5 gallons at a time if you don’t have lots of space. much time is spent in preparation no matter what size batch.
it isn’t complicated to get wine. getting wine that lots of people who are wine drinkers would like would take practice.
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### Author:  [@Alex\_Dubinsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alex_Dubinsky)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2009, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reducing-alcohol-in-wine/513237/14 "2009-10-11T03:39:27Z")
Wow, nothing ruins the taste of wine for me like alcohol. I think that if you drink a certain way the first few times you’re drinking, the body recognizes it as a poison and assigns it a horrible taste.
Anyway, something I found recently was a “wine product” of 6% alcohol. The label says it was diluted with juice, natural flavors, citric acid, and even a bit of carbon dioxide. I think it tastes fantastic. The label is “Chateau Diana.”
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### Author:  [@Alex\_Dubinsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alex_Dubinsky)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2009, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reducing-alcohol-in-wine/513237/15 "2009-10-11T03:44:24Z")
Letting alcohol sit around for a while will also let it vaporize out. Might be a better choice than heating and boiling.
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### Author:  [@Kiwi\_Fruit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiwi_Fruit)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2009, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reducing-alcohol-in-wine/513237/16 "2009-10-11T09:13:33Z")
> [@Alex\_Dubinsky](#):
>
> Letting alcohol sit around for a while will also let it vaporize out. Might be a better choice than heating and boiling.
Also a good way of oxidising the wine leading to a taste like vinegar!
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### Author:  [@Lord\_Mondegreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Mondegreen)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2009, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reducing-alcohol-in-wine/513237/17 "2009-10-11T11:06:56Z")
I have absolutely no idea how they did it, but in the late '80s/early '90s in Australia they released a wine which was basically half the alcohol of normal wine. It meant that I could drink a whole bottle of Chardonnay during the course of a meal without being concerned about being arrested for being over the limit. It was very short-lived and disappeared quite quickly. Strange, because it tasted more than OK (and I know quite a lot about wine). I have no idea why we can’t get it any more.
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### Author:  [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2009, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reducing-alcohol-in-wine/513237/18 "2009-10-11T14:43:20Z")
That way you don’t have to heat it up as much to get the alcohol to boil off and you preserve the taste. I’m sure that’s how its done on an industrial scale.
How to pull a vacuum? I’ll leave it to you and Rube Goldberg.
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### Author:  [@Alex\_Dubinsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alex_Dubinsky)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2009, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reducing-alcohol-in-wine/513237/19 "2009-10-11T17:23:47Z")
> [@Sigene](#):
>
> That way you don’t have to heat it up as much to get the alcohol to boil off and you preserve the taste. I’m sure that’s how its done on an industrial scale.
Well, no. We already know they use reverse osmosis on an industrial scale. I’m not sure if the vacuum will have enough suction. One of those vacuum-sealers with a jar attachment would probably do the trick. There’s still a concern that there are volatiles in the wine that you want, but I imagine boiling the wine would be worse. Reverse osmosis doesn’t sound terribly selective either. Would be very interesting to compare the three methods in terms of what they remove.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2009, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reducing-alcohol-in-wine/513237/20 "2009-10-11T19:42:38Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Also a good way of oxidising the wine leading to a taste like vinegar!
Not just a taste like vinegar: That _is_ vinegar. Real vinegar is made precisely by the oxidation of alcoholic liquids.
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