# The Impact of GoLo Technology on the Quality Properties of Dealcoholised Wines
## 1 Introduction  
Wine is one of the most consumed beverages globally, with 221 million hectoliters consumed in 2023, according to the latest data from the International Organization of Vine and Wine (OIV) [1]. Further, wine production and consumption are highly globalised, as highlighted by the OIV study. This study reveals that there are a total of 7202 thousand hectares of cultivated land dedicated to wine worldwide. Remarkably, only twenty countries account for 89% of the wine produced and exported, and the five countries with the largest areas of cultivated land for wine are Spain (13.1%), France (11.0%), China (10.5%), Italy (10.0%), and Turkey (5.7%). In this highly competitive market, the quality of a wine is essential for its sale and is determined by the interaction of physicochemical and sensory properties. These parametersdepend on intrinsic factors such as the grape variety and extrinsic ones including soil, weather, and winemaking techniques. The interaction of all of these factors determines a profile of compounds directly involved in the quality of the wines and therefore in their sale [2]. In recent years, increasing environmental factors and changing consumer habits have led to the production of more dealcoholised wines [3], that are required to maintain the same quality, ensuring an optimal balance of physical, chemical, and sensory parameters. Dealcoholisation processes are based on different technologies such as very-low-temperature vacuum distillation technology called GoLo [4], being the most advanced dealcoholisation technology on the market today. In this context, its noteworthy that the authors of this study previously published the first research on the use of GoLo technology to dealcoholise wines [5]. The GoLo dealcoholisation technology utilises vacuum distillation at low temperatures (45-47 \({}^{\circ}\)C) and reduced pressure levels of \(-83\) to \(-90\) KPa. The process features three distillation columns, and the final outlet temperature of the dealcoholised wine is 2 \({}^{\circ}\)C. This technology combines traditional multiple batch separation processes into a single, continuous, user-friendly operation. It features a thin film creation system that functions efficiently without any moving parts. In just one pass, GoLo dealcoholisation technology can separate nearly 100% of the volatile aromatic compounds (the essence), reduce the alcohol content of wine to as low as 0.05% (\(v/v\)), and rectify the alcohol content to as high as 85% (\(v/v\)) [5]. A comparison of GoLo dealcoholisation technology with the most common post-harvest dealcoholisation methods available in the market, using a simplified strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis [6], is presented in Table 1. Additionally, GoLo operates at higher flow rates than other dealcoholisation technologies while using less energy and water, which results in lower losses [5]. The chemical composition of wine is very complex and consists of a mixture of various compounds including alcohols, sugars, acids, minerals, proteins, phenolic acids, and volatile and phenolic compounds (also called polyphenols) in the following approximate proportions: water (86%), ethanol (12%), glycerol, higher alcohol and polysaccharides (1%), organic acids (0.4%), polyphenols (0.1%), and minerals, volatile compounds, and other compounds (0.5%) [22].