Nett (Bergdolt-Reif & Nett, Pfalz/Palatine, Germany)
Hannes met Christian Nett at a wine fair in Singapore in early 2026 and was immediately impressed by the quality of his alcohol-free wines. What made the meeting particularly interesting was the discussion that followed about the science behind dealcoholisation: how do you remove the alcohol from a finished wine without also removing the aromas and character that make the wine interesting in the first place? Having worked with the technology in detail, Christian Nett has developed a broad range of alcohol-free wines – and after tasting them, we decided to bring a selection into our portfolio.
Today, our Nett range includes nine alcohol-free and six traditional wines!
Bergdolt-Reif & Nett is a family winery in Duttweiler in the Pfalz, with a history going back to 1838 and Christian Nett now representing the fifth generation. The estate farms around 35 hectares of vineyards and combines traditional winemaking with an open attitude towards new ideas.
The alcohol-free wines start as finished wines made from grapes grown in Nett's own vineyards. The wines are first vinified in the normal way; only afterwards is the alcohol removed. The key difference is how the aromas are handled during this final step.
Nett uses SOLOS aroma-recovery technology, a system developed from technology created by the Munich food-tech company FlavoLogic. The company was founded by Dr. Alexander Hässelbarth and Claudia Geyer, and later adapted to produce de-alcoholised beverages (see https://solos-technology.com/).
The high-quality base wines are gently dealcoholised under vacuum at low temperature. During alcohol removal, volatile aroma compounds leave the wine together with the distillate. SOLOS' patented Aroma Recovery System uses solid-phase extraction to capture those compounds from the liquid distillate. They are then reintroduced into the dealcoholised wine, with the aim of retaining as much of the wine's original aromatic fingerprint as possible!
This is particularly important with aromatic varieties such as Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Gewürztraminer and Muskateller, where much of the identity of the wine comes from volatile compounds. The core still-wine ranges are REVERSE and BREAKAWAY. REVERSE focuses on fresh, varietal-driven wines, while BREAKAWAY explores more structured styles and, in some cases, oak ageing. The wider alcohol-free portfolio also includes other styles beyond these two ranges.
A very interesting phenomenon in alcohol-free wines is the altered perceived balance between sugar, acidity and alcohol. Alcohol contributes warmth, body and strongly influences the perception of sweetness, so removing it does make a wine taste drier, sharper and less rounded. This is why de-alcoholised wines contain more residual sugar to restore this balance: for instance, Nett's alcohol-free Riesling contains 19.2 g/L sugar, 8.5 g/L acidity and <0.5% alcohol, yet still tastes very dry. By comparison, a comparable “traditional” Nett dry Riesling contains only 3.6 g/L sugar, 7.8 g/L acidity and 12.0% alcohol. Shockingly, Coca-Cola contains more than 100 g/L sugar, while orange juice typically contains around 90 g/L!
For us, this combination of traditional winemaking and modern food science is what makes Bergdolt-Reif & Nett particularly interesting. Christian Nett is not trying to make a substitute for wine; he starts with proper wine and then uses technology to remove the alcohol while preserving as much of its original character as possible.
After our meeting in 2026 and the opportunity to discuss the technology in detail, we were convinced that this was a category worth taking seriously. The result is one of the broadest alcohol-free wine selections in our portfolio, with more than ten Nett wines covering different grape varieties and styles.
Two technical notes on dealcoholised Nett wines
Pricing: In Germany, the Nett winery sells for instance REVERSE Sauvignon Blanc for about 50% above a straightforward classical Sauvignon Blanc. This is because the dealcoholised version must first be produced as a high-quality finished wine, and after that it undergoes an additional, technically demanding production process involving dealcoholisation and aroma recovery (SOLOS aroma-recovery technology, see above). In Singapore, the alcohol tax savings partly offset these additional production costs. This explains why we can sell dealcoholised wines for a price of S$ 30 per single bottle (or S$ 25 if you get one box) for REVERSE wines as an example and inversely sell corresponding classical wines for S$ 35.
Vintages and traceability: The alcohol-free wines are generally produced without a vintage designation. This is intentional and allows blending wines from more than one vintage, which is sometimes necessary or beneficial given the overall more complex process of winemaking. Each production batch is nevertheless fully traceable through its lot/batch number, providing the relevant production and traceability information without the need for a vintage year on the label.
Bergdolt-Reif & Nett is among Germany's most highly awarded producers of de-alcoholised wines, with recent successes including MUNDUS VINI's Best Producer National Germany 2025!
· MUNDUS VINI Grand Non-Alcoholic Competition 2025: “Grand Gold” & “Best of Show” for Pinot Blanc BREAKAWAY de-alcoholised (95 Points), Pinot Blanc REVERSE (92 Points)
· MUNDUS VINI Grand Non-Alcoholic Competition 2025: “Best Producer National 2025” for Germany, the most significant recent recognition of Christian Nett!
· Gault & Millau 2026 non-Alcoholic wines: “Highly Impressive” for Pinot Blanc BREAKAWAY and Rosé REVERSE
· Falstaff de-alcoholised Trophy 2026: 93 Points for Chardonnay Grand Gold, 92 Points for Gewürztraminer BREAKAWAY
· Austrian Zero Award 2026: Double gold for Gewürztraminer BREAKAWAY, scoring of 18.29/20, highest-scoring wine in the category of de-alcoholised white wines! Sauvignon Blanc REVERSE also received 17.00/20, while Rosé REVERSE received Gold (16.86/20)
· ASIA Non-Alcoholic Wine Trophy 2025: GOLD Best in Category for Rosé REVERSE
· AWC – Austrian Wine Challenge 2025: GOLD for Gewürztraminer BREAKAWAY
