Column Zero

Column Zero – alcohol-free wine out of conviction

When Philipp Rößle and Moritz Zyrewitz founded Kolonne Null GmbH in Berlin in 2018, their idea was as simple as it was unusual: to create alcohol-free wine that needs no apology whatsoever. Rößle, who started out of an artist's studio on Berlin's Kolonnenstraße, and Zyrewitz, who studied political science, shared the conviction that there was a fundamental quality problem in the growing market for alcohol-free beverages – and that this could be changed. The brand name combines both roots: Kolonnenstraße as the birthplace and the dealcoholization column as the technical heart of the process.

The two took their first step in 2019 with just 500 bottles, produced in collaboration with a single winemaker and sold at Berlin's weekly markets. The young brand's first wine was a Silvaner from 2018 – modest in quantity, but groundbreaking in its ambition.

Craftsmanship instead of high gloss: the Berlin model

Kolonne Null doesn't operate its own winery. Instead, the team collaborates with select, award-winning family wineries in co-production. At their Berlin workshop, the partner winemakers' base wines are tasted, blended, and selected; an in-house laboratory forms the research basis for each new creation. Only the very best blends are dealcoholized on a larger scale and make their way into the collection.

The dealcoholization process is no secret, but it is a mark of quality: vacuum distillation at under 30°C . The low boiling point protects volatile aromatic compounds that would be lost in conventional thermal processes. What remains is a wine that has undergone the complete winemaking process – pressing, fermenting, and aging – and ultimately stands in the glass without alcohol, but full of character. Artificial flavorings, colorings, or other additives are out of the question. With 0.3% alcohol by volume, the wines are below the legal limit of 0.5%; many products even reach 0.0% alcohol by volume.

Partner winemakers: Quality from the source

Behind the Kolonne Null wines are wineries that carry weight in their own right. For their Riesling, the brand collaborates with Anette Closheim , a partner winemaker since 2020 who manages the 150-year-old family winery on the Nahe River. Closheim supplies sommeliers of top chefs and was the first winemaker to be honored with the Wine World award "Riesling Discovery of the Year" —a testament to the importance Kolonne Null places on its raw material suppliers. The Kolonne Null Riesling was named the test winner among non-alcoholic wines in a 2024 tasting conducted by the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper .

The sparkling rosé is produced by the Julius Wasem winery in the Kaiserpfalz region (Rheinhessen), a fourth-generation family business with roots in the Ingelheimer Grund. The still, dry rosé from Castile/Spain is based on the Tempranillo grape variety – a sign that Kolonne Null doesn't stop its search for the right base wines at Germany's borders.

Region and classification

The regions of origin for the Kolonne Null wines are deliberately diverse: Nahe, Rheinhessen, and Württemberg in Germany, as well as Spain, specifically the Castile region. This diversity is intentional – not every grape variety, not every style can be meaningfully derived from a single area. What unites the wines is not their origin, but the production method and the standard: no compromise on aroma and structure, regardless of the vineyard from which the base wine originates.

Kolonne Null's medium-term goal is to establish its own headquarters on the outskirts of Berlin – complete with production facilities, a laboratory, research facilities, and a restaurant, modeled after a French champagne house. It's an ambitious plan that demonstrates how seriously the founders take their vision.

Column zero at Vinoscout

At Vinoscout you'll find nine wines from Kolonne Null that accurately represent the brand's core range. Particularly popular are:

• Kolonne Null Rosé sparkling dry alcohol-free – the brand's best-selling wine in the range, 14.99 EUR
• Kolonne Null Cuvée Blanc No.01 sparkling alcohol-free – from Rheinhessen, Grenache, 12.95 EUR
• Kolonne Null Riesling dry alcohol-free – Test winner of the Süddeutsche Zeitung 2024, 11.00 EUR
• Kolonne Null Rosé dry alcohol-free – Tempranillo from Castile/Spain, 11.00 EUR
• Column Zero Cuvée Rouge dry alcohol-free – EUR 12.99
• Kolonne Null x Domäne Schloss Johannisberg Gelblack Riesling non-alcoholic – 18.48 EUR

Prices range from 9.80 to 23.10 EUR – a range that extends from everyday entry-level bottles to special bottles for a set table.