As a winegrower, Reg Holder never considered non-alcoholic wines… until his wife became pregnant. Wine had always been a special moment of connection the couple shared at dinner. Not wanting to lose that spark, Reg launched in 2017 the first de-alcoholized wine in South Africa for his wife. He named the brand Lautus, which means pure, elegant, and sumptuous in Latin. Two kids later, Lautus has made a splash in South Africa and is finally arriving on American shores.
Reg sources from aromatic vineyard sites, picking some grapes early to retain acidity, and others at optimal phenolic maturity for richness and texture. The alcohol is removed via spinning cone technology at low temperatures under vacuum in two passes. In the first pass, the phenols are removed and set aside; subsequently, the alcohol is removed and the phenols are added back in.