Spinning cone columns are used in a form of low temperature vacuum steam distillation to gently extract volatile chemicals from liquid foodstuffs while minimising the effect on the taste of the product.
Some producers feel that this unbalances their wine, and use spinning cones to reduce the alcohol by 1-2 percentage points.
Some producers such as Joel Peterson of Ravenswood argue that technological "fixes" such as spinning cones remove a sense of terroir from the wine; if the wine has the tannins and other components to balance 15% alcohol, Peterson argues that it should be accepted on its own terms.
[4] Subsequently, the EU legalized dealcoholization with a 2% adjustment limit in its Code of Winemaking Practices, publishing that in its Commission Regulation (EC) No 606/2009[5] and stipulating that the dealcoholization must be accomplished by physical separation techniques which would embrace the spinning cone method.
More recently, in International Organisation of Vine and Wine Resolutions OIV-OENO 394A-2012[6] and OIV-OENO 394B-2012[7] of June 22, 2012 EU recommended winemaking procedures were modified to permit use of the spinning cone column and membrane techniques such as reverse osmosis on wine, subject to a 20% limitation on the adjustment.