The great demand of beverages, both alcohol-free and with low alcohol content, is a great challenge for the production of beverages with controlled alcohol content through the use
of sustainable enological practices. The present work addresses this challenge with the processing of grape must by reverse osmosis (RO) for must reconstitution with different sugar
contents prior to the alcoholic fermentation. The original must came from grapes grown in Quinta do Quinto, in Santarém, collected after destemming and mechanic crushing, and
preserved in a refrigerated chamber at -1.6 °C until processing by RO. The RO processing was carried out in Escola Superior Agrária de Santarém, with a pilot plant equipped with RO
spiral wound modules, M38RO, from Alfa Laval, Denmark. The total membrane permeation area is 15 m2. The work pressure was 55 bar. The original must had 23.7 oBrix, a density
of 1108 g.L-1, 15.2% (v/v) of probable alcohol, and a conductivity of 2.01 mS.cm-1. The must reconstitution was carried out, by mixing the concentrated grape must with the vegetal
water produced by RO (permeate) to obtain beverages with a nominal alcohol content of 5%, 7%, 10% and 13% (v/v). The fermentation average temperature was between 18.2 and
19.7 °C, and the final density rounded about 993 g.cm-3. The beverages were analysed by different parameters, including total polyphenols, total anthocyanins, colour intensity and
hue, the coordinates CIELab, alcohol content, total acidity, volatile acidity, pH, free SO2 and total SO2. The attributes of the beverage, corresponding to the visual appearance, aroma
and taste senses, as well as the overall judgment were evaluated by the tasters. The proposed method can produce beverages with controlled low alcohol content. The decrease of the
alcohol content led to lower content of polyphenols compounds which influenced the sensory evaluation.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
