A dealcoholized wine is a true wine from which ethyl alcohol has been partially or completely removed. This is different from beverages that are born alcohol-free, which do not come from traditional alcoholic fermentation but are instead made from infusions, juices, or flavored bases. This distinction is important, as it carries both legal and technological implications. Dealcoholization can only be performed on a wine that has already undergone alcoholic fermentation from grapes, and it must preserve the wine’s essential characteristics. Authorized techniques must ensure that the final product, though lacking (or nearly lacking) alcohol, maintains the nature and identity of the original wine, avoiding transformations that would place it in a different product category.

There are three approved techniques:

• Vacuum evaporation: using controlled temperatures (around 25–30°C), alcohol is evaporated without significantly altering the bouquet. The advantage lies in preserving the aromatic profile, though alcohol removal may be incomplete if not combined with other processes.
• Reverse osmosis: selective membranes are used to separate ethanol molecules from those of water and phenolic and aromatic substances. It is an extremely precise method that allows for gradual and targeted dealcoholization.
• Spinning cone columns: a technology originally developed for coffee, now adapted for winemaking. It allows selective, layered evaporation of volatile compounds, followed by reconstruction of the wine without alcohol while retaining part of its sensory identity.

Each technique has its pros and cons, and producers often combine multiple methods in sequence to achieve the best balance between alcohol removal and aroma preservation. But what truly makes the difference is the quality of the base wine: it is now widely acknowledged—even at an experimental level—that producing a good dealcoholized wine requires dedicated vineyards, with grapes low in sugar content, high in acidity, and rich in concentrated aromatic notes.