Why can alcohol-free champagne not be called champagne?

Champagne is a protected designation of origin; the name may only be used for wine made in the delimited area according to the established product specification.

With a protected designation of origin all grapes must come from that area and the permitted methods must be followed. The names are in the European register eAmbrosia. A producer who does not stick to the file may not use the name, not even with an addition such as alcohol-free in front of it.

No, wine with a protected designation of origin or geographical indication may only be partially dealcoholised.

The European legislator laid this down in 2021: for wine without a designation, both partial and full dealcoholisation are allowed, for wine with a protected designation only partial. If a producer wants to do this, the process must be stated in the product specification. A bottle that has been reduced to at most 0.5 percent by volume therefore cannot carry a protected wine name.

A fully dealcoholised bubbly is called dealcoholised sparkling wine, with that designation mandatory alongside the name of the wine category on the label.

Producers also choose their own brand name. Names such as cava and prosecco are likewise protected and therefore fall under the same rule. A dealcoholised product must also carry a best-before date, because the actual alcohol content is below 10 percent by volume.

A grape variety is something different from a protected designation of origin and may be stated under certain conditions.

A dealcoholised wine without a protected designation may carry, for example, chardonnay or sauvignon blanc on the label. The protected names are precisely the place names tied to a product specification. For the buyer the distinction is practical: the grape says something about the flavour direction, the protected designation about origin and method.

Dealcoholised wine contains at most 0.5 percent alcohol by volume, and many bottles state 0.0 percent on the label.

The Alcoholwet only calls a drink alcoholic above half a percent by volume at twenty degrees Celsius, so a dealcoholised bottle does not fall under it. Under the European labelling regulation, stating the alcohol content is only mandatory above 1.2 percent by volume; what is stated below that, the producer puts there voluntarily.