ARIEL Vineyards……
Before ARIEL’s debut, dealcoholized wines were widely believed to lack the quality of traditional wines. But at the 1986 Los Angeles County Fair, ARIEL Blanc went up against wines with alcohol and was awarded the Gold Medal. Since that moment, ARIEL has gone on to earn critical acclaim and numerous awards in competitions throughout the world.
Because ARIEL Vineyards is owned and operated by J. Lohr Vineyards & Wines, we have access to high-quality fruit from J. Lohr’s 3,700 acres of estate vineyards, which are located predominantly along California’s acclaimed Central Coast. From Monterey County down to Paso Robles, the J. Lohr estate vineyards, which are sustainably farmed and chosen for their specific microclimates and soil compositions, are the primary source of the fruit used in ARIEL dealcoholized wines. These vineyards, managed by an experienced team, are nurtured with attention to irrigation, canopy management and cluster thinning, and are fine-tuned to achieve proper vine balance. J. Lohr’s Director of Winemaking Jeff Meier and Red Winemaker Steve Peck guide the crafting and cellaring of wines used to produce ARIEL, employing only the very best practices, which have developed during Meier’s 26 years with J. Lohr.
ARIEL is not only dealcoholized, but also non-fat, low in sugar, and contains roughly one third of the calories that traditional wine with alcohol contains (approximately 19-37 calories for a four ounce serving, as opposed to 100 calories per serving in wines with alcohol*). Also, by removing the alcohol, we remove the metabolism-slowing and dehydrating effects associated with it, as well as the many risks engendered by being under the influence of alcohol.
Some of ARIEL’s varietal wines are aged in small oak barrels, and all are fined and filtered according to traditional winemaking methods. Finally, more than 99.5% of the alcohol is removed through our gentle cold filtration process. This process, which uses reverse osmosis, allows alcohol to be removed from ARIEL while retaining many of the qualities found in traditional wine!
Check out how ARIEL is made:
- The base tank is initially filled with wine.
- A pump pushes the wine into the reverse osmosis unit.
- The cylinders have membranes that separate a syrupy concentrate from the alcohol and water.
- The water and alcohol flow into a storage tank, and the concentrate is recycled 10-20 times.
- Finally, before bottling, fresh water is added to the concentrate, creating the finished product!
Alcohol: Less than 0.5% Vol.
Residual Sugar: 10g/100ml
Kcal: 52 per 240ml glass
The bottle contains Sulphates- 220 and is gluten free.
