More on High alcohol
November, 2012 Filed in: Tasting wine
There has been a trend in recent years toward wines with higher and higher alcohol levels. Remember that the way professional wine tasters test wine is very different from the way ordinary users drink it. Professional tasters test wine by tasting it and then spitting it out, rather than drinking a whole glass slowly, over a leisurely meal.
What this has meant is that many vineyards, at the behest of winemakers and tasters, have begun to hold off on harvesting grapes until the fruit has developed abnormally high sugar levels. Customers are told that a wine that is 'only'10% alcohol is unacceptable. Wines like California Cabernet and Zinfandel, which might have been 12.5-13.5% alcohol two decades ago, now regularly contain 14.5% alcohol.
One byproduct of this change is that inebriation levels increase much more quickly. Some consumers have begun abandoning North American wines for just this reason, because they don’t enjoy 'getting drunk' while merely eating a hamburger or having pasta for dinner. And the punch of the alcohol drowns out the actual tastes, aroma, and character of the wine itself.
A few years ago, well-known California winemaker Randy Dunn of the Dunn Vineyards sent a letter to wine critics and wine magazines, advocating that the average consumer as well as the wine media begin to speak up and protest this 'fad' of higher and higher alcohol. He claims that the enjoyable consumption of wine is different from mere solitary 'tasting,' comparing consumption to the enjoyment of a meal. As he says in the letter, 'Would you want to sample a soup, meat dish or other course that is so overpowering that you cannot enjoyably finish what is in front of you?'
What is lost when the alcohol content goes so high is the subtleties that have always been associated with excellent wine: the individualities from grapes grown in different regions and conditions, and the small distinctions in flavour and aroma. As Dunn says, these have been 'replaced by sameness - high alcohol, raisiny, pruney, flabby wines.'
Another byproduct, according to Dunn, is that fewer bottles of high-alcohol wines are actually sold. He uses the equation that the percentage of alcohol times the volume equals the satisfaction the drinker experiences. If the alcohol percentage increases, the volume drunk 'must go down for satisfaction to stay the same - or else we all get plastered.'
'High alcohol content' doesn’t automatically equate with 'great wine'. In fact, a wine with a slightly lower alcohol content may end up being more thoroughly enjoyed as wine (with all the character, taste, aroma, and subtlety that implies) rather than as a mere high-speed alcohol-delivery system.
Article from Winexpert
What this has meant is that many vineyards, at the behest of winemakers and tasters, have begun to hold off on harvesting grapes until the fruit has developed abnormally high sugar levels. Customers are told that a wine that is 'only'10% alcohol is unacceptable. Wines like California Cabernet and Zinfandel, which might have been 12.5-13.5% alcohol two decades ago, now regularly contain 14.5% alcohol.
One byproduct of this change is that inebriation levels increase much more quickly. Some consumers have begun abandoning North American wines for just this reason, because they don’t enjoy 'getting drunk' while merely eating a hamburger or having pasta for dinner. And the punch of the alcohol drowns out the actual tastes, aroma, and character of the wine itself.
A few years ago, well-known California winemaker Randy Dunn of the Dunn Vineyards sent a letter to wine critics and wine magazines, advocating that the average consumer as well as the wine media begin to speak up and protest this 'fad' of higher and higher alcohol. He claims that the enjoyable consumption of wine is different from mere solitary 'tasting,' comparing consumption to the enjoyment of a meal. As he says in the letter, 'Would you want to sample a soup, meat dish or other course that is so overpowering that you cannot enjoyably finish what is in front of you?'
What is lost when the alcohol content goes so high is the subtleties that have always been associated with excellent wine: the individualities from grapes grown in different regions and conditions, and the small distinctions in flavour and aroma. As Dunn says, these have been 'replaced by sameness - high alcohol, raisiny, pruney, flabby wines.'
Another byproduct, according to Dunn, is that fewer bottles of high-alcohol wines are actually sold. He uses the equation that the percentage of alcohol times the volume equals the satisfaction the drinker experiences. If the alcohol percentage increases, the volume drunk 'must go down for satisfaction to stay the same - or else we all get plastered.'
'High alcohol content' doesn’t automatically equate with 'great wine'. In fact, a wine with a slightly lower alcohol content may end up being more thoroughly enjoyed as wine (with all the character, taste, aroma, and subtlety that implies) rather than as a mere high-speed alcohol-delivery system.
Article from Winexpert