Does nonalcoholic wine contain alcohol?

It can. For dealcoholized wine, U.S. FDA labeling guidance calls for a declaration of less than 0.5% alcohol by volume and accepts nonalcoholic as an additional label claim. Terminology and thresholds depend on the beverage and jurisdiction — what nonalcoholic labels mean around the world compares them market by market. The Dry Standard reviews drinks at or below 0.5% ABV; that inclusive ceiling is our editorial scope, not a universal legal definition.

The ceiling is not a promise that the glass contains no ethanol.

What 0.0% is claiming

0.0% is a stated residual, or a rounding the producer treats as zero. It is not proof that every laboratory, at every sensitivity, would find nothing. When a source states 0.0%, we print 0.0%. When the producer only says nonalcoholic, we do not upgrade that sentence into a zero.

The same FDA guidance permits “alcohol-free” only when a product contains no detectable alcohol. That claim does not establish a measured exact zero or, by itself, justify recording an ABV of 0.0%. We keep the label wording separate from a sourced numeric ABV declaration.

What under 0.5% is claiming

Under 0.5% is the band we use when the cited figure is a trace under that line, or when the source gives the ceiling rather than an exact residual. A 0.4% Riesling and a 0.0% Riesling are different facts. The longer split is 0.0% vs under 0.5%.

Removal does not finish at a laboratory zero

Dealcoholized wine was wine. A machine then took ethanol out. Some houses publish 0.0% after that step. Some publish under 0.5%. If the source is silent, the review prints Undeclared. Silence is not a zero.

A built wine — tea, fruit, botanicals, never fermented as wine — can also carry a trace, or none. That is a different object. See What is a built wine?. How a residual gets onto the page, and why a shop listing is weaker than a producer sheet, is How The Dry Standard checks a claim.

In the cellar

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