What Is Dealcoholized Wine? How It’s Made and What It Tastes Like

For a long time, wine without alcohol has been discussed almost entirely in terms of absence: less alcohol, fewer calories, and none of the after-effects traditionally associated with drinking. Those are all valid reasons to open a bottle, but they overlook the more interesting question of what happens to the wine itself once alcohol is removed.

Alcohol is not simply the intoxicating component of a glass of Cabernet or Chenin Blanc. It contributes weight, texture, aromatic expression and balance, which means removing it creates a surprisingly complex technical challenge. The success of a dealcoholized wine therefore depends not only on taking alcohol away, but on preserving enough of the original wine's character to retain freshness, structure and a recognizably vinous feel.

This is what makes the current generation of dealcoholized wines worth paying attention to, particularly when they emerge from established wine regions. South Africa is beginning to make a compelling case in this category, and Leopard's Leap Natura offers an especially interesting introduction.

First, What Exactly Is No & Low Alcohol Wine?

The terminology surrounding No & Low wine can be confusing, particularly because several terms are often used interchangeably even though they describe different products and production methods.

Low-alcohol wine contains alcohol, but at a significantly lower level than conventional table wine. Non-alcoholic wine sits below 0.5% ABV in the United States, although trace amounts of alcohol may remain, while alcohol-free wine contains no alcohol.

Then there is dealcoholized wine, which tells us something important about how the product was made. A dealcoholized wine begins as traditionally fermented wine and only afterwards has most of its alcohol removed.

That distinction matters. Rather than creating something designed simply to resemble wine, the winemaker starts with an actual base wine and attempts to preserve its aroma, fruit, texture and structure after one of its fundamental components has been removed.

Natura Starts With Wine

Leopard's Leap is based in Franschhoek, one of the Cape's historic wine regions, and its Natura collection was developed for drinking occasions where the experience of wine is still desirable but the alcohol is not.

Natura begins with traditionally made wine. The Classic White draws on Chenin Blanc from Swartland and Paardeberg, while the Classic Red combines Pinotage for generous red fruit with Shiraz for spice and structure.

Only after the base wine has been made does the unusual part begin.

Leopard's Leap uses low-temperature vacuum distillation to remove the alcohol. Lowering the pressure inside the system dramatically reduces the temperature required for distillation, allowing the process to take place at around 20°C, according to Leopard's Leap head winemaker Renier van Deventer.

Rather than exposing the wine to aggressive heat, its major components are carefully separated. The alcohol is removed while water and aromatic compounds are retained and later recombined, resulting in a finished Natura wine containing less than 0.5% ABV.


Removing Alcohol Is Only Half the Challenge

The influence of alcohol on wine is easy to underestimate. Beyond intoxication, it contributes body, texture and balance while affecting our perception of sweetness, acidity and aroma.

Once alcohol is removed, that architecture changes, so the winemaking team must restore balance around what remains. Aromatic components captured during distillation help preserve the original wine character, while tannin, acidity and careful adjustment of sweetness can restore some of the structure and mouthfeel lost through dealcoholization.

This is also why a dealcoholized wine should not necessarily be judged by whether it tastes identical to a 14% table wine. A more useful measure is whether it still behaves like wine: whether the acidity feels fresh, the fruit remains defined, the red retains tannin and structure, and the wine feels at home alongside food.

There is also considerably more wine involved than one might expect. Leopard's Leap estimates that producing around 10,000 liters of finished dealcoholized wine can require approximately 12,500 liters of base wine, making Natura a more technically involved proposition than simply making wine and taking the alcohol out.

Why South Africa Makes Sense for No & Low Wine

South Africa has an interesting natural advantage as the No & Low category develops. Over the past two decades, many Cape producers have increasingly focused on freshness, precise picking decisions and naturally vibrant varieties rather than sheer ripeness and alcohol.

Those instincts translate well to dealcoholized wine, where acidity and fruit purity become particularly important once some of the wine's natural weight has disappeared.

Chenin Blanc is especially useful in this respect. Its natural acidity and expressive fruit give the winemaker a strong foundation after dealcoholization, while Pinotage offers generous red-fruit character. In Natura Classic Red, Shiraz adds spice and further structure.

It also gives the Natura collection a distinctly South African identity. These are not anonymous alternatives designed simply to occupy the place of wine; they are built around varieties with a genuine connection to the Cape.

Meet the Natura Collection

Natura Classic White

The Natura Classic White shows tropical fruit, pear and the bright, zesty character that makes Chenin Blanc particularly well suited to this style.

Serve it properly chilled, where its acidity and freshness become more defined. Its combination of fruit and brightness works naturally with seafood, summer salads and aromatic or moderately spiced dishes.

Natura Classic Red

Red wine presents a particularly interesting challenge for dealcoholization because so much of its structure comes from the relationship between alcohol, tannin and fruit.

The Natura Classic Red combines Pinotage's ripe strawberry and red-berry character with the spice, texture and tannin of Shiraz. The presence of genuine tannin is important, giving the wine a recognizably vinous shape rather than allowing it to drift towards simple berry sweetness.

Serve it slightly chilled alongside grilled meats, barbecue dishes or an easy midweek dinner.

Natura Sparkling Chenin Blanc

Our personal favorite, the Natura Sparkling Chenin Blanc, demonstrates why sparkling wine and dealcoholization can make particularly natural companions.

Acidity and carbonation provide texture and energy where alcohol otherwise might, while Chenin Blanc brings freshness and fruit. More importantly, it retains something that cannot be measured in ABV: the sense of occasion that comes with opening a bottle of sparkling wine.

There are lunches, celebrations and long afternoons when opening a bottle is part of the pleasure, even when alcohol is not. In those moments, Natura Sparkling feels less like a substitute and more like a considered choice in its own right.

A Different Way to Think About No & Low Wine

Perhaps the most important shift surrounding No & Low wine is that it does not need to exist solely for people who have stopped drinking.

You might want wine with lunch before returning to work, alternate between conventional and non-alcoholic bottles over a long dinner, be the person driving home, or simply decide that tonight you want the ritual and flavor of wine without much of the alcohol.

The bottle still arrives at the table, glasses are poured, food is considered, and the pleasure of sharing remains intact.

Rather than asking whether dealcoholized wine can perfectly imitate conventional wine, the more interesting question is how much of wine's character can be retained once alcohol is removed. Fruit, acidity, aroma, tannin, texture, regional identity and the ability to sit naturally beside food are all still part of that conversation.

Leopard's Leap Natura is interesting precisely because it approaches dealcoholized wine through this lens, treating the category not simply as an exercise in subtraction, but as a question of what thoughtful winemaking can preserve.

For Cape Ardor, Natura is our first dedicated dealcoholized collection, but it will not be our last. We will continue expanding our No & Low Alcohol portfolio as we discover producers approaching the category with the same seriousness we expect elsewhere in wine.

Natura is expected to arrive in the US in early October, with all three wines currently available to pre-order.