FAQs

Yes. All the wines and beverages that we carry contain at most 0.5% alcohol/volume. However, most of our products have less than 0.05% alcohol/volume. This is because the wines are first produced as regular alcoholic wines. At the end of the production process, the alcohol is removed by different processes (depending on the winery), resulting in an alcohol-free product that keeps all the complexity and flavour that we expect from the wine.

Since all our products contain at most 0.5% alcohol, there is no risk for anyone enjoying our beverages. Whether you have health issues, want to stop consuming alcohol, throw a kid-friendly party, or are pregnant, fear not because our alcohol-free products are safe for all ages.

Yes. All our products contain at most 0.5% alcohol volume. Therefore, our non-alcoholic wines can be enjoyed by pregnant and nursing women without fear of harming the baby.

All Luxe Drinks products meet Australian government standards for non-alcoholic and dealcoholized beverages. For your reference, here are some definitions of terms. However, on the Luxe Drinks website, we use non-alcoholic, alcohol-free, and dealcoholized terms interchangeably. Every non-alcoholic beverage we carry contains at most 0.5% alcohol by volume.

Alcohol-Free

Meaning: Contains zero (0.00%) alcohol by volume. Alcohol-free beverages are produced without any form of fermentation (or brewing). Often have preservatives added before bottling to ensure fermentation does not occur once stored.

Non-Alcoholic
The drink contains 0.5% or less alcohol by volume. Non-alcoholic beverages generally undergo some form of fermentation; however, the alcohol content is kept at 0.5% or lower by either: 

By halting the fermentation process early; 

By mixing unfermented drink with a fermented drink to the appropriate proportion; or 

By removing any excess alcohol through a process known as 'dealcoholisation';

Anything that can ferment produces alcohol as it ripens, and therefore a ripe grape, for instance, will contain alcohol. Some fresh orange and tomato juices are above the Australian 'non-alcoholic' limit for drinks that have not less than 0.5% but not more than 1.15% alcohol by volume, including some yogurts and rye bread! An overripe banana can contain 1% alcohol, and malt vinegar that you put on your salad is 0.2% alc/vol. Alcohol is also naturally created within the human body as part of the digestive process.

De-Alcoholized
De-alcoholized beverages are fermented (such as when making wines) but have most of the alcohol removed before being pasteurized and bottled. De-alcoholized beverages generally have the same or similar depth and complexity of taste that fermented (brewed) drinks have, yet with very low alcohol content.

Alcohol is removed in the production stage using one of three different processes at cool temperatures to avoid damaging the wines. All the wines are ordinary alcoholic wines up to this point, so all the original characteristics are retained.

Steam Vacuum: The vaporization temperature of alcohol is lower than that of other liquids, so, under normal circumstances, it would be necessary to boil wine at high temperatures to steam off the alcohol so damaging the delicate flavours. This process is done in a vacuum where vaporization can be achieved at much lower temperatures. The wine, therefore, loses its alcohol but retains the characteristics and flavours that would be lost with normal boiling.

Reverse Osmosis - forces the wine through a membrane (filter) to separate the alcohol from the rest of the wine.

Centrifugal Force - is used in some de-alcoholized wines to 'throw' the alcohol away from the wine through filters. Unfortunately, this has to be repeated many times to reduce the alcohol molecules.

Halted Fermentation: This system is more commonly used in beers. The mash is mixed and left to brew. The process is halted at the point just before the product reaches an alcoholic content of more than 0.0%.

Most of the wines that we sell are Halal certified. To see a list of our Halal Certified wines, click here. But what does Halal Certified mean?

The word 'Halal' (حلال) is an Arabic word which means permissible. And in translation, it is usually used as lawful/allowed/acceptable, and it's a term that is applied to all aspects of life and covers not only food and drink but also all matters of daily life.

When used concerning food or drink, it means that the food/drink is lawful, allowed or permissible for Muslims, which guarantees to consumers that the wine contains no forbidden components, like alcohol.

All Halal certified wines contain 0.0% alcohol by volume.

Halal certificates are issued, for a fee, by a certifying body. For our wines, the organization is The Halal Institute.

We deliver our products to every corner of Australia.

We accept Visa, MasterCard (credit or debit cards), Paypal, Zip|Pay, Bank Deposit & Google Pay payments. We don't accept American Express.

Based on the researchers led by Gemma Chiva-Blanch of the University of Barcelona, yes.

Methodology: Researchers at the Hospital Clinic of Barcelona instructed 67 men to drink 10 ounces of red wine, 10 ounces of non-alcoholic red wine, or 3 ounces of gin every day for four weeks. At the end of the four weeks, each subject rotated to a different drink and repeated the process before switching again such that by the end of the study, all 67 men had been observed consuming all three drinks. As a result, each study participant had either diabetes or at least three of the following risk factors for heart disease: high blood pressure, high cholesterol, a family history of heart disease, excessive weight or obesity, or smoking.

Results: The non-alcoholic red wine was associated with a significant decrease in blood pressure, lowering heart disease risk by 14% and the risk of stroke by 20%. The alcoholic red wine, however, did not appear to have such effects.

Conclusion: Although alcoholic and non-alcoholic red wine contains the same amount of heart-healthy antioxidants, the alcohol may block the polyphenols from doing their protective work. Non-alcoholic red wine may therefore be more effective at protecting the heart.

Implication: Pairing antioxidants with alcohol appears counterproductive. If you were drinking red wine for cardiovascular benefits, consider switching to non-alcoholic wine or any of the multitude of other ways to get antioxidants.

Source: The complete study, "Dealcoholized Red Wine Decreases Systolic and Diastolic Blood Pressure and Increases Plasma Nitric Oxide," is published in Circulation Research'.