Castel Invests Ten Million Euros in De-Alcoholization Plant

The French wine group Castel Vins has announced, according to the industry magazine Vitisphere, that it will invest ten million euros in a new de-alcoholization plant at the La Chapelle-Heulin site on the Loire (picture). The special feature of the vacuum distillation plant is that it guarantees, according to Castel, “de-alcoholized wines with balanced profiles and one hundred percent retained flavors, without the addition of foreign flavors.” It was developed by the company’s own research and development department. The principle, according to Castel, is to remove only the alcohol and preserve all the flavors present in the wine.

For this purpose, the wine is evaporated at a low temperature (30 – 40 °C) over a short period of a few dozen seconds. The aromas that evaporate during this process are completely returned to the wine. The wine is then cooled to five degrees Celsius and stabilized shortly before bottling through pasteurization without the addition of chemical agents. The result is therefore “pure wine – just without alcohol.” The process allows for alcohol-free wines with less sugar (30 grams per liter) instead of the usual 50 to 60 grams per liter. This way, alcohol-reduced wines can also be produced without having to be blended with wine. The plant is expected to be able to produce several million bottles per year. With this, the company aims to “address all types of consumers in all markets – in France as well as internationally.” According to a survey of 5,000 people, 16 percent of French wine consumers would already drink alcohol-free wines.

Castel also calls for the approval of glycerin as a sweetener instead of sugar. Glycerin is “a natural component of wine that comes from fermentation and provides a better mouthfeel. It is particularly well suited to give balance to de-alcoholized wines and thus reduce the proportion of added sugar.”.

The Castel Frères group owns 23 wineries in France alone and produces over 350 million bottles annually. The portfolio includes 500 brands that are distributed in 140 countries. About 70 percent of the revenue from the wine division of around 1.1 billion euros was generated in France in 2024. The group includes the 500 Nicolas wine specialty stores in France and the online wine retailers Vinatis and the recently acquired brand Tannico.

(al; picture: Castel Vins)