 Bottled in the Alsace shaped green coloured bottle, the 2007 vintage was fermented in stainless tank for a couple of weeks at 14-16 °C and bottled in February 2008 for release earlier this month in Spain where it retails for around $10.
A young and crisp light golden coloured, bright wine with aromas of green apples has the taste of peaches with citrus flavours. It is meant to be drunk within a year as an aperitif or with fish and should match most Indian vegetarian dishes, not deep fried.
The wine has been produced primarily for people who do not want to drink alcohol but still enjoy wine with food or as an aperitif. At 0.5% it is practically alcohol free- but not advised for those who do not imbibe alcohol because of religious tenets. The process of de-alcoholisation is carried out by first making the regular wine and then feeding it to the spinning cones which separate alcohol from the wine.
This wine would also be ideal for pregnant women and people who need to drive. A few glasses of wine will still keep you below the legal and the safe limit for driving. Pregnant women can have a glass or two daily without any medical problems due to alcohol.
Prior to this launch a winery near Jumilla in South Eastern part of Spain, Casa de la Ermita, was the first winery in Spain which had come out with a low alcohol wine. Altos de la Ermita has a low alcohol level of a low 6.5%. it has flavours of classic wine but is lighter and fruity, more like a summer drink with berry flavours and the smokiness due to the oak maturing for a few months but with much less legs due to lower alcohol. It plans to release around 65,000 cases of Altos in the very first year, with sales planned in Spain and around the world.
The Ermita vineyard's technique uses carefully controlled irrigation to produce grapes with less sugar and therefore less alcohol potential. The finished wine is then put through rotating cones to separate out alcohol molecules.
This technique is already popular in California where the factories receive finished wines and put them through a chemical process where the alcohol level is reduced. However, this aspect of wine making is not talked about in the open as the producers fear that wine aficionados may reject such de-romanticised wines.
Hot wines like those of southern Spain and at times even in Rioja, with levels at 15% alcohol or more, are no longer as popular as the 80s or 90s with people today preferring lower levels. EU is also seized of the problem and understands the techniques evolved to reduce alcohol. It has devised a new category known as "wine with reduced alcohol content" to help such wineries market their product.
Though Torres has no immediate plans to make the red wine version or export these wines, one hopes that the Indian importer TT&G, a Torres joint-venture will bring this wine in India soon and be the first one to promote a true ‘alcohol-free’ wine. A few versions of unfermented carbonated grape juices are currently available, claiming to be alcohol free wines but with no wine characteristics. They have understandably, not been accepted by the Indian consumer.
DelWine had covered the launch of the Altos de la Ermita in May, 2008 in its edition no. 215.
Indian Wine Academy has been the first organisation in India to be committed to creating awareness about global warming and the desirability of keeping alcohol levels low; as much as moderate regular consumption of wine for health reasons or otherwise. DelWine will continue to focus on articles in this genre.-editor |