Fiscal regime, excise duties and taxation. The long-awaited interministerial decree (Mef and Masaf) which defines in detail the rules for the production of dealcoholized wines in Italy has become reality. A green light welcomed with extreme favor by many Venetian and Friulian winemakersready to bet on the new business.
The zero alcohol wine segment, in fact, is no longer a niche, at least not abroad. According to the most recent findings of the Italian Wine Union (Uiv) the sector is one of the few growing within the wine galaxy.
In the retail circuit, alcohol-free sales have grown by 46% in Germany, 20% in England and 18% in the United States, with a global turnover that has reached 2.4 billion euros and aims to grow by 8% per year, so as to reach 3.3 billion by 2028.
«This decree represents an important step – observes Giancarlo Moretti Polegato, president of the Villa Sandi group, one of the most important players in Prosecco -. It recognizes a market evolution that, as producers, we have already been experiencing for some time. Italy is finally filling a regulatory gap that until now had kept us behind other European countries, where the production of alcohol-free wines has been regulated for years. Villa Sandi has been engaged in this sector for 4 years alreadywith the development of a zero alcohol product that grows by double digits every year. This is a market with great potential, which does not compete with our traditional bubbles, but expands the possibilities of a producer who can respond to the new needs of consumers. The new legislation will allow us to continue to innovate and respond to requests, without ever giving up quality and tradition.”
«Finally some good news to close a complex 2025 and a 2026 with many doubts for us producers – says Filippo Polegato, CEO of the Astoria brand and vice president of the Italian Wine Union -. With the Union we have been working for some time to put Italian companies in a position to attack a potentially very interesting market, and above all to compete on equal terms with foreign competition: the United States and the Nordic countries of the EU, where the no-alcohol trend is already particularly widespreadwill be the first important test bed for our alcohol-free wines, but also in Italy we will see significant growth now that more proposals will arrive on the market: our alcohol-free drink, launched in 2013, has grown in double figures in recent years, demonstrating how this ongoing trend among consumers is not simply a passing fad, but a structural change in habits”.
«Italian companies will have the same opportunities as French or German producers – observes Roberto Castagner, master distiller and CEO of the distillery of the same name -. The world of dealcohols is destined to create an interesting market sharealthough it is too early to make estimates on the numbers. We have the positive experience of non-alcoholic beer which today represents around 5% of the total market and is growing continuously. From a practical point of view, however, there is no shortage of difficulties, linked not only to the purchase of suitable machinery, but to the management of the alcohol extracted from these processes: the decree in fact did not provide simplifications for wineries in the management of small quantities of alcohol, they must therefore respect the same procedures as distilleries (including the excise duty on alcohol, which is not foreseen for wine). This complexity will mean that, at least initially, only large producers will equip themselves with a dealmaking system, while service companies or consortia will be created to join forces”.
«It is important that the confirmation has arrived in order to be able to deal in Italy too – comments Anna Spinato, owner of the company of the same name in Ponte di Piave -, we can be truly competitive. Until now in Italy we had no guidelines, at most we could only carry out tests, but not produce dealcohols and put them on the market. It was possible to take the wine to be deal-cooled to Spain and Germany, countries where the legislation is already in force, then return to Italy where it was bottled. But it is a process that involves high transport costs and many have given up on it. Now, however, we will have an advantage, the costs will be contained. We have requests from foreign importers to purchase totally or partially alcohol-free wineswhich have a maximum of 5 degrees. The USA, Norway and other Northern European countries are more open to zero alcohol whites and reds.”
In Friuli Venezia Giulia, in San Vito al Tagliamento, Lea Winery of the Spadotto family is a pioneer of dealcoholics, with two sparkling wines that will be bottled from 2022. But there are also other wineries and cooperatives in the plains ready to ride the wave of what seems like a real deal.
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