Family winery taps into zero-alcohol trend

Alcohol-free drinks are becoming ever more popular, especially with health-conscious younger people - a trend cheered by a small German winery based in a Rhine Valley castle.

While demand for zero-alcohol beer has risen strongly, the family business is betting on similar growth in the wine sector, using a technique it pioneered more than a century ago.

"We are seeing this growth in demand and it's going strong," said Bernhard Jung, who runs the Carl Jung wine estate in the picturesque town of Ruedesheim.

Germany - better known for its storied beer-brewing tradition - may seem an unlikely place for the alcohol-free wine industry to flourish, but the Jung family had a head start.

Back in 1907, Bernhard Jung's grandfather Dr. Carl Jung invented a process to gently extract alcohol from wine while preserving the original taste.

The winemaker hit on the idea when he risked losing a loyal customer who had to stop drinking alcohol for health reasons, and went on to patent the system which set the industry standard.

From its base in a small castle set amid vine-covered hills, the business has been making alcohol-free wine ever since and three decades ago, stopped producing alcoholic varieties altogether.