All wines have alcohol, a professor of Industrial and Food Microbiology, Prof. Sunday Awe of Kwara State University, declared on Wednesday.
He said at Malete, Kwara while delivering the 11th inaugural lecture of the institution that alcohol-free wines were only de-alcoholised.
His inaugural lecture was entitled: “From the field to the bottle: Works of the invisible creatures.’’
He explained that de-alcoholised wines contain less that 1 per cent of alcohol, but rarely 0.0 per cent.
“What people parade as non-alcoholic wines are actually fruit juices or sparkling drinks with addition of flavours, preservatives and indication of expiry dates.
“Real wine does not contain preservatives and expiry dates since the alcoholic content serves as preservative; the longer wine stays, the better the taste,’’ he said.
Awe noted that Nigeria has the potential to join the league of wine-producing countries if deliberate efforts were made to maximise the potential of many fruits available in the country.
“In view of the toxicological effect of alcohol, alcohol in real wine can be distilled off and used for other non-consumptive purposes.
“The nutrients lost due to lack of storage facility for fruits can be harnessed by turning them to wine and foreign exchange can be earned through local production for export.
“To maximise the benefits of local production of fruit wine, it is recommended that fruit wine is produced during harvest season of fruits,’’ he stressed.
