Dealcoholized wine: How much origin remains?

Matthias Reckendorfer on Riesling, Blanc de Blancs, and why the quality of a dealcoholized wine is determined long before the dealcoholization process.

When talking about dealcoholized wine, we surprisingly often focus on what has been taken away: the alcohol. We talk about the dealcoholization process itself, residual sugar, and how close the result is to traditional wine. We talk much less frequently about what happens beforehand.

Where do the grapes come from? Who grows them? What happens in the vineyard? What role do the grape variety and vintage play? And what must a wine actually be like for some of its original character to remain after dealcoholization?

This is exactly why we found Matthias Reckendorfer's approach exciting from the very beginning. We have now known Matthias for about a year and a half. When he came to us through Sylvia Petz back then and introduced us to his dealcoholized Riesling, we were quickly interested despite our generally rather selective stance toward dealcoholized wines.

Matthias is first and foremost a winemaker. He works organically, the grapes come from his own vineyards – and for him, dealcoholization is not the starting point of a product, but one of the final steps in a much longer process.

Following the first Riesling, the 2025 vintage brings not only its successor but also, for the first time, a second dealcoholized wine: a Blanc de Blancs.

A good occasion to start where these wines are actually born.

Why Riesling from the Weinviertel?

Anyone thinking of the Weinviertel almost inevitably thinks of Grüner Veltliner. Nevertheless, Matthias' history with dealcoholized wine begins with Riesling.

The first reason for this lies right on his doorstep. The winery is located in Ollersdorf an der March, right on the Slovakian border. Riesling is known to feel at home in river landscapes – not just on the Mosel or the Rhine, but here on the March river as well.

Matthias' intention is not to copy the well-known Austrian Riesling regions. The conditions around Ollersdorf are different, characterized among other things by very lime-rich soils. Therefore, the Riesling is not meant to taste like a wine from the Wachau or the Kamptal, but rather to show the unique potential the grape variety possesses here.

For the dealcoholization process, something else crucial was added: the independence of the Riesling variety. "We thought for a long time about which variety we could use so that the variety remains recognizable even after dealcoholization," explains Matthias.

In Riesling, he found exactly this stability. Even in the vineyard, the small berries, the concentration, and the taut structure are characteristic. Riesling also behaves differently during pressing and processing.

"Riesling is simply Riesling."

Grüner Veltliner, on the other hand, can be aromatically very diverse. Exactly this bandwidth, which makes the variety so exciting, was not necessarily an advantage for the first dealcoholized project. What was needed was a clear starting point – an aromatic wine where the variety and character remain as clearly recognizable as possible even after dealcoholization.

Riesling 2025: more freshness, structure, and less residual sugar

A comparison of the two Rieslings so far shows just how much the vintage matters in addition to the variety.

2024 was a warm year. The Riesling proved to be somewhat softer, with less acidity and structure. To achieve a coherent overall image after dealcoholization, the wine also required a bit more residual sugar.

2025, by contrast, was almost ideal for Matthias. "For us, it was actually a dream vintage in this regard." The year was comparatively cool and at the same time rich in precipitation. What was decisive was less the absolute amount of rain than its regularity. The vines were well supplied throughout the season, while the cooler conditions favored freshness and acidity.

This is exactly the style Matthias is looking for in his dealcoholized wines. They are not meant to function through sweetness, but through freshness and structure.

Therefore, it was possible to achieve a version with significantly less residual sugar for the 2025 Riesling. What creates tension in the finished wine was already present in the base wine.

Discover Weingut Reckendorfer Riesling 2025

Dealcoholized Blanc de Blancs with Burgundy character

With the Blanc de Blancs, Reckendorfer is now expanding its range for the first time with a sparkling dealcoholized wine.

The cuvée consists largely of Pinot Blanc, supplemented by a smaller portion of Müller-Thurgau. Here, too, Matthias' goal was not simply a fruity, sparkling wine. He wanted a Blanc de Blancs with "depth and, above all, character."

Once again, the base wine plays a central role. Matthias works with different Pinot lots and various aging methods to build fullness and structure. Yeast maturation times were also part of these considerations.

The result is intended to retain a clear wine character despite the carbonation and dealcoholization – and here, too, it should get by with as little residual sugar as possible.

Discover Weingut Reckendorfer Blanc de Blancs

Origin from own vineyards around Ollersdorf

It gets especially exciting when it comes to the topic of origin. While we take it for granted in classic wine to talk about who grew the grapes, which region they come from, or what influence a vintage had, this level quite often disappears behind technology in dealcoholized wine.

"It is very important to us that – just like with the rest of our operations – one hundred percent of the grapes come from our own vineyards."

This applies to both the Riesling and the Pinot grapes of the Blanc de Blancs. And the origin can be pinpointed even more precisely: the grapes for both wines grow in our own vineyards around Ollersdorf an der March.

"They are both actually located directly in Ollersdorf, really spread around the village," explains Matthias in conversation – and speaks himself of "virtually village wine quality, even if you are not allowed to put it on the bottle."

In this lies an interesting difference for us compared to many dealcoholized wines. Behind the bottle stands not only a grape variety or a technical production method, but a specific place, a vintage, and a winemaker who grows the grapes himself.

Quality must be present before dealcoholization

But origin alone is naturally not enough. The decisive factor is what is made of it in the vineyard and later in the cellar. For Matthias, this begins with the right harvest time. The grapes must be aromatically ripe while at the same time bringing sufficient freshness, acidity, and structure. Qualities that become all the more important later due to the lack of alcohol. In some cases, this means harvesting in a highly differentiated manner.

For the 2025 vintage Pinot grapes, for example, not everything was picked at the same time. A portion was harvested earlier to preserve freshness and tension. Other grapes were allowed to hang on the vine longer to ripen more fully.

Work in the cellar is also done with different lots. With Riesling, for example, grapes from different vineyards can be vinified separately and later brought together to yield more structure and fullness together.

The wine is therefore not produced and then simply "made non-alcoholic." Efforts are made beforehand to create a base wine capable of carrying the subsequent dealcoholization. And this is exactly where one of the most important learning processes from the first vintage lies for Matthias.

"Quality grows in the vineyard. That is the be-all and end-all."

Of course, the dealcoholization itself must also happen at the highest level. Matthias emphasizes clean, hygienic work and trust in the partners with whom he implements this step. But dealcoholization cannot create what was not there before. The quality of the base wine must be right from the start.

What remains of the grape variety, origin, and vintage?

This inevitably leads to a question: if a wine undergoes such a fundamental processing step – how much of its original character can even be preserved afterward?

Matthias estimates that about 60 to 70 percent of the origin, grape variety, and vintage can be found again in the dealcoholized wine. Naturally with a certain limitation.

As a winemaker, he knows the wine in both states. He knows how the grapes tasted, knows the different lots, and has the base wine in mind before the dealcoholization. For him, the connection is therefore easier to grasp than for someone who only tastes the finished product.

Nevertheless, there is an interesting claim behind this assessment. Dealcoholization changes the wine. However, it should not take away its entire identity.

Clarity and structure instead of sweetness

So what should people recognize when they taste a Reckendorfer Riesling or the Blanc de Blancs without knowing anything about how it was made?

For Matthias, it is above all clarity, freshness, and structure.

With Riesling, the grape variety should remain recognizable. The Blanc de Blancs should show its Burgundy character despite being a cuvée. Both should get by with as little residual sugar as possible and instead be carried by acidity and tension.

"This has character. This is not juice now, but it really has an independent wine character."

Perhaps that is exactly the most important statement of our conversation. Because Matthias is not trying to imitate grape juice, verjus, or another non-alcoholic drink. For him, it is still wine.

At the beginning, there are vineyards. There is a vintage, a harvest, decisions about ripeness and acidity, different lots, and cellar work. Only then follows the dealcoholization.

From the vineyard to dealcoholized wine

The fact that this approach is consistently pursued is also shown by other decisions.

The grapes come from organic cultivation and from his own winery. For the dealcoholized wines, too, this path from the vineyard to the finished bottle should remain traceable. In addition, the wines are bottled without preservatives – a point that is important to Matthias, especially in combination with organic farming.

For him, all of this belongs to the question of what standard a winery sets for this still-young category. As a young winemaker in particular, he is also attracted to remaining open to developments and facing a topic that is still sometimes viewed critically within the wine world.

In doing so, he has no illusions: dealcoholized wine still has a development path ahead of it, both in terms of taste and technique. But that is exactly why he sees potential. Because winemakers can contribute their experience, their vineyards, and their own grapes to this development.

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How much origin is there in dealcoholized wine?