Comparison of the principal production methods for dealcoholised wine based on analytical parameters

Production, demand, and brand awareness of dealcoholised wine (< 0.5 % v/v) are progressively increasing worldwide. This study aimed to evaluate the efficiency of membrane- and thermal-based dealcoholisation methods by examining changes in quality parameters associated with ethanol removal. A total of 600 litres of Spanish white wine (OW) was subjected to dealcoholisation using key techniques, including vacuum distillation (VD), conventional distillation (Dist), spinning cone column (SCC), osmotic distillation (OD), a combination of reverse osmosis with osmotic distillation (RO-OD), where a wine beverage obtained from reverse osmosis via diafiltration, is used as the strip solution(RO-Dia(R)), reverse osmosis where the permeate was paired with dialysis (RO-Dia(P)), and standalone dialysis (Dia). Total extract and total acidity were significantly higher in wines dealcoholised by thermal-based methods, whereas they decreased in wines processed by membrane-based methods. A similar trend was observed for mineral content: VD-treated wines showed the highest concentrations of Mg, Ca, and K (55–59 % higher compared to OW), while Dia-treated wines exhibited the greatest losses (around 90 % lower compared to OW). Total phenol concentration significantly increased in VD-treated wines and significantly decreased in wines processed by RO-OD, RO-Dia(R), RO-Dia(P), and Dia. Techniques such as Dist, SCC, and OD showed no significant changes in total phenol concentration compared to OW. Colour intensity was highest in Dist-treated wine (0.96) but decreased in wines treated by other dealcoholisation methods. Furthermore, redox potential and acetaldehyde concentrations varied depending on the dealcoholisation technique, with OD-treated wines exhibiting the highest values.