Chile Considers New Wine Category for Lower-Alcohol Bottles

Chile is considering a new legal category for wine with lower alcohol content, a change that would allow certain wines to be sold as wine even when they fall below the country’s current minimum alcohol threshold, as long as they are not dealcoholized.

Federvini reported on Sept. 2, citing the Chilean political monthly El Mercurio, that President José Antonio Kast has prepared a draft decree to create the category of “low alcohol content wine.” The proposal would apply to wines that have a naturally lower alcohol level because of how they are made, not because alcohol was later removed.

According to the report, the draft is under review by Chile’s Contraloría General, the body that examines the legality of administrative acts, and it has not yet been published in the Official Gazette. That means the measure is still under examination and is not yet in force.

The proposed change would amend the regulation of Law 18.455, Decree No. 78. Under the draft language cited by Federvini, the new category would be defined as a beverage obtained exclusively from partially or fully fermented grape juice, made with authorized winemaking practices, with a minimum actual alcoholic strength of 8.5% vol.

That would mark a clear shift from the current rule in Chile, where wine must have a minimum alcohol content of 11.5% vol. Chilean legislation already recognizes partially dealcoholized wine and dealcoholized wine, but the draft would create a separate space for wines that are lower in alcohol by origin and process, without undergoing dealcoholization.

The distinction is important because it separates two different production models. Dealcoholized products start as conventional wine and then have alcohol removed. The category under discussion in Chile would instead cover wines that arrive at a lower alcohol level through their normal production process. In practice, that could include winemaking choices that lead to less alcohol while still using approved enological methods.

For wineries, the proposal could open a new regulatory path for products that today may sit in an uncertain position between standard wine and dealcoholized wine. It could give producers a clearer way to describe and market lighter wines that are made without post-production alcohol removal. The change could also shape label language, product registration and technical decisions in the cellar, especially for companies trying to respond to demand for beverages with lower alcohol levels.

The possible effects extend beyond domestic producers. Chile is an export-oriented wine country, and legal definitions often matter in trade, compliance and portfolio planning. If the category is adopted, exporters and importers may need to review how wines are classified for the Chilean market and how those products are presented to buyers and regulators. For producers working across several markets, the measure could add another national standard to a category that is already evolving in different ways from country to country.

The draft also points to a broader debate inside the wine business about how traditional legal definitions should adapt to changes in production and consumption. Lower-alcohol products have drawn growing attention, but rules have not always moved at the same pace. In Chile’s case, the proposed 8.5% vol threshold would formally recognize a type of wine that falls below the current 11.5% vol minimum while still remaining within the wine category.

For now, the proposal remains a draft. Until the Contraloría General completes its review and the text is officially published, Chile’s existing rules stay in place.