And then there is the issue of importer labels that list a range of 11% to 14% with no producer ABV visible.
I want harvest brix and ph levels too…and date of harvest.
Alc is one data point. If I trust the winemaker, I’ll trust he got the balance of all the elements correct.
Alcohol percent may or may not tell you anything.
If you trust the winemaker then the ABV tells you a lot. Everything else should be in balance for the given ABV.
For me, anything over 14.5% is a hard no, regardless of balance. I have never liked any wine marked above that. Not one. And at 14.5% only Zins, Nebbiolos or Tempranillos. Everything else below that. Pinot Noirs at or under 13.5% (maybe 13.8% is it’s an amazing winemaker). Same thing. I’ve never really enjoyed any Pinot Noir above 13.8% (and have regretted breaking my own rule too many times). And considering that some well-respected winemakers don’t follow those rules (as is their right), I’d like to have the information I need to avoid their products.
(Everyone knows that none of this applies to 2018 Bordeaux and other wines marked higher within the TTB margin of error to avoid Trump tariffs.)
But sure, if I can get pH and date of harvest that would help a lot too.
I don’t buy it. Alc isn’t the end all, be all.
Have you ever had Martinelli Giuseppe & Luisa Zin? Prime example of a well-regarded wine where knowing the ABV could stop you from making a terrible mistake, unless you like that style.
No, not familiar with it.
Alcohol is a lever an experienced winemaker can use to their advantage. Let them do their craft.
If you don’t like higher alcohol wines, I can respect that, but I don’t think it matters much for well regarded winemakers.
Then we agree that online retailers should list it so that consumers like me can avoid high ABV wines (just like we can by looking at the bottle in a local shop)?
That’s all I ask. I’m not trying to tell others what to drink. That’s why I posted this in the Pimps section.
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Personally I’d like to see the back label of every bottle of wine online before I buy it, or if I’m looking it up for work or a review. I’m trying to remember to take photos of the backs of bottles, but for ecommerce, this should be a must. Think about how many different angles of a shoe we need to purchase online… for wine it’s just TWO!
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Especially since the back label is legally the front label in most cases.
A wine can be completely dry and still have alcohol above 14%.
On the flip side wine can be 9% abv and contain 45gpl of residual sugar.
Turley lists abv on every label.
True, on the label. But not on the mailing list offers, tasting notes, or anywhere easily available. I had to email to ask and they were extremely reluctant to send me the list. I tend to really dislike the bitterness from alcohol once it gets above 15.5%, give or take, and too many of their wines now cross that threshold.
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I’m with Guillermo. As I have gotten older, ABV has become an important buying decision. Most wines above 14.5% are just more difficult for my body to process. If I cannot easily find the ABV at or near the point of purchase, I will not purchase.
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I’ve always understood it to be .5% in either direction of what you list on the bottle. ABV of 14 = 13.5 to 14.5 and still legal.
From the TTB website:
Alcohol content may be stated as a specific percentage with a tolerance of:
Plus or minus 1 percentage point for wines containing over 14% alcohol by volume;
Example: A wine is labeled with the alcohol content statement “18% ALC. BY VOL.” Provided the actual alcohol content does not exceed 19% or fall below 17%, the label alcohol content statement “18% ALC. BY VOL.” is permissible.
Plus or minus 1.5 percentage points for wines containing 14% or less alcohol by volume;
Example: A wine is labeled with the alcohol content statement “12% ALC. BY VOL.” Provided the actual alcohol content does not exceed 13.5% or fall below 10.5%, the label alcohol content statement “12% ALC. BY VOL.” is permissible.
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I am with also with him on alcohol, but some VCC s I am quite fond of are close to 14.5%.
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REAL ABV? Or just what the label says with all of that +/- slippage? That is often the rub. And you can have high pH high total acidity, leaving a tart wine with high potassium, depending on the buffering capacity, like when a vineyard is in acidic volcanic soil. It is all so complicated…
Real ABV would be wonderful, but we all know that just isn’t going to happen (and isn’t a reasonable expectation, logistically). I do think we should have a little more precision in the reporting of ABVs though. Being off by 1.5% is a huge difference, and I’m sure there are producers taking advantage
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Sometimes by more than that.
Before I started reviewing wines professionally in 2011, I surveyed what other publications listed and found many left out not only ABV (as stated on the label) but case production as well. I created a table template that lists that information along with vintage, varietal, composition, Italicized proprietary names, vineyard designate, appellation, price and combined the color of the wine with the score (so I don’t have the repetition of a dozen wines that all list ‘RED’ as color in a column.) Everything appears in the same format and lastly, a link to the winery website.
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