Australian Vintage wins government grant for NoLo research

Australian Vintage and 10 industry partners have received government funding from the Cooperative Research Centres Projects (CRC-P) program to fund their Advancement of Australian Lifestyle Wines project.

The grant of $2,977,599 will be matched with partner contributions to the value of $3,706,753. The funds will be used for research and development in low and no-alcohol wine led by Australian Vintage in partnership with the University of Adelaide, Australian Wine Research Institute, Treasury Wine Estates, Flavourtech, DrinkWise, Tarac Technologies, S. Smith and Son, Danstar Ferment, Mauri Yeast, and CHR Hansen.

Jamie Saint, Chief Winemaker at Australian Vintage, said the grant will be used to further improve the flavour and mouthfeel of NoLo wines, with the ultimate goal of positioning Australia as a major producer in this emerging category.

"We're extremely grateful to receive the Federal Government's support. The grant allows us to conduct research with a key objective of optimising the flavour and mouthfeel of no and low products as well as drilling down into consumer and market insights of the category.

"The opportunity to work with a group of leading industry partners to take the growing NoLo category to the next level is something we are enormously excited by, improving the competitiveness, productivity and sustainability of the Australian wine industry. We want to position the Australian wine sector as the largest global producer of NoLo wines," said Saint.

Data from drinks market analysts IWSR released in January predicts growth in this category to increase by a third by 2026, while 54 per cent of consumers are proactively seeking products that improve their health, according to Globaldata.

Australian Vintage pillar brands include McGuigan, Tempus Two, Nepenthe and Barossa Valley Wine Company. McGuigan Zero is the number one selling still non-alcoholic wine range in Australia and the UK, while the Tempus Two Zero range has less than 0.5 per cent alcohol, and the Lighten Up range sits at 6.8 per cent.

The company's newest range, Not Guilt, was launched in the UK recently and is already running awards. The rosé received overall Judges Wine of Show at Winepilot's Mid-Low-No Alcohol Wine Awards this month and scored 92 points in the IWSC 2023. Not Guilty launches in Australia in August 2023.

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