The 2026 Hive Award for Best Technology goes to Treasury Wine Estates, for its low- and no-alcohol wine production process. The company unveiled its new $15 million Barossa Valley dealcoholisation facility in February, which uses a proprietary Flavour Lock process to capture and reintroduce the wine’s aromatic essence.
With half of the world’s regular wine drinkers moderating their alcohol intake and the global no- and low-alcohol (NoLo) market forecast to grow strongly over the coming decade, the NoLo movement is more than a passing trend.
Treasury Wine Estates’ new technology is the company’s latest step in building a hub of innovation, technology and sustainability in the Barossa Valley. It houses customised, exclusive equipment alongside proprietary processes that delicately process the wine’s extracted essence as part of the dealcoholisation process, allowing winemakers to protect the components responsible for the wine’s flavour and fragrance.
The facility will produce the next generation of NoLo alcohol wines for brands in Treasury Wine Estates’ global portfolio – including Squealing Pig and Pepperjack, to complement other low NoLo alcohol offerings in the Matua, 19 Crimes, Lindeman’s, and Wolf Blass brands. The company also recently announced its new-to-market low-alc brand, Sorbet, developed with Endeavour Group, that will be launched in October.
