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Spanish winery Casa de la Ermita has launched a red wine called Altos de la Ermita, which has only 6.5º gravity. It's the first variety to look, smell and taste like a traditional wine yet with approximately half the alcohol.

According to current European legislation, it can't actually be called wine simply because it has less than 9º. However, it has created a new category called "low alcohol content wine" (vino de contenido alcohólico reducido).

Altos de la Ermita is the result of almost three years of research carried out by the Casa de la Ermita Group, following the consumer demand for products with less alcohol than usual.

The process The elaborate process starts at the vine: First, the cultivation through "hydric stress", helped by watering system, soil and climate in the area, forces the vine to stop producing sugar for several hours a day during the maturation stage, which results in a harvest with fewer sugar levels. Yeast is then selected among some of the vines, because of its poor ability to transform sugar. Finally, a slight adjustment of surplus alcohol through a physical separation system takes place.

The low-alcohol product is produced from Monastrell, Tempranillo and Petit Verdot grapes, and rests for six months in oak casks.