Alcohol: can it be too low?
I recently had a Bugey de Cerdon, a sweet, pink fizzy wine from the Savoie region of France. It was $22 for 8 percent alcohol by volume. A few days later I had a lovely Txakoli, a white vaguely sparkling wine that was 10.5 percent abv that was also, coincidentally, $22 a bottle. I also remember having an easy-drinking Moscato d’Asti ($16) with five percent abv recently.
I generally prefer low alcohol wines. If the alcohol is over 14 percent, as happens all too often in this age of global warming, the number of glasses I can reasonably consume with dinner declines sharply. Since I enjoy drinking wine with food that makes me sad.
But drinking low alcohol wines can be expensive. The $16 for 750ml of five percent wine might make some drinkers switch to a microbrew that has more kick and costs less per ounce. There was a day in France when wine was sold from vats at the local market and people brought jugs to fill, paying more for a douze (12% abv) than for an onze (11%). So with many low-alcohol wines not pricing in such a discount today, if you pour only low-alcohol wines at a dinner party, you would wind up working through more bottles, thus raising the wine tab for the evening.
To dismiss low alcohol wines would mean never trying these types of wines, which is always too bad. Some types of wine, such as these three as well as Mosel Riesling, are simply low alcohol wines. I find low alcohol wines to work particularly well with spicy foods and warm weather. So they fill a definite void and do so well.
What do you think: would a low alcohol level stop you from buying a wine?
On July 10th, 2008 at 10:26 am ,Katie wrote:
I don’t usually consider the abv of the wines I drink. I choose from the wines I like that will suit my specific purpose (or I taste whatever the wine guy recommends). The only time I ever consider it is with port, since the higher alcohol content means a smaller portion or falling asleep at the table. 🙂
On July 10th, 2008 at 12:57 pm ,Tex Sawyer wrote:
My family and I just came back from 2 1/2 weeks of travel through France, Italy and Switzerland. We had a bottle of wine at every lunch and dinner. With no apparent ill effects. Certainly no hangovers. Not one bottle of wine red, white or sparkling had more than 12.5% alchol as stated on the labels. Some were in the 11% range. In general, we enjoyed them all and they went very well with the foods that we were eating. I am looking forward (or backward) to the day when California winemakers et al understand the value and enjoyment of balance and finesse over overripe power and palate numbing alcohols.
On July 10th, 2008 at 1:35 pm ,Morton Leslie wrote:
I bought a several vintages of spatlese and auslese by the case in the 70’s, but never drank them…deciding soon afterwards, I guess, that “sweet” German wines didn’t fit in my lifestyle. After a decade or so I put them in cold storage to slow their aging and I forgot about them. Recently at the memorial for Barney Rhodes on a warm day there were iced bottles of 30 year old auslese from his cellar. I was back for glass after glass. What was wrong with me? At 8% to 10% alcohol, they are the perfect aperitif, tart, not cloying,with a wonderful perfume. Fine at the dinner table as well. I am so glad I didn’t drink mine as I can now, but I wish I had kept a more open mind and had continued to buy them, particularly during the several decades when they were out of fashion and dirt cheap. A lesson to heed for those who are just starting a cellar – there are some low alcohol wines that age wonderfully – and three decades is just a blink of the eye.
On July 11th, 2008 at 8:00 am ,Michael wrote:
I agree whole-heartedly with Morton Leslie about Riesling, (though I was not alive to try 70’s Rieslings) and I will continue to drink low alcohol Auslese and Spatlese, BUT I recently had a Moscato D’Asti from a respectable producer on a suggestion. I was shocked to see how low the alcohol was. The thing is that the wine wasn’t worth taking the hit on the content. I did have to drink twice is much – and with a semi-sweet that is taking a toll on calories as well as cost – just to feel an effect. Now I know that this does not go well with the notion of wine as food and not as booze, but I still like a buzz with my fizz. With a good riesling there is a complexity that makes it nice to have less alcohol, it allows the flavors to shine through and I can really study the taste. But with less deserving wine, in the future, I’ll check more closely to make sure I don’t get something so low.
As for monster alcohol in many domestic wines, and increasing contents even in Europe (and don’t even mention Australia!) I think that a big Cab at 14 or so is fine, but 15 and now even 16!? C’mon! I think that 12 to 13.5 is the sweet spot for ideal consumption, so that a bottle, even between two, over a leisurely time allows enjoyment but still allows you to walk afterwards – or work afterwards if necessary.
On July 11th, 2008 at 8:08 am ,bill marsano wrote:
Drinking low-alcohol wines “can be expensive” only if you’re buying for the alcohol content. I don’t see why low-alcohol wines should be cheaper, and if serving them them at a party means you’ll have to go through more bottles, then you’ve got guests who drink wine–or a host who serves it–for the alcohol. As for the wines sold from vats–it’s a good bet that alcohol was its chief attraction.
About 15 years ago 12ABV was pretty much standard and 13 was high. Today’s 14s I find often give me more alcohol than I need and less pleasure than I want. A lot more German producer are offering dry Riesling than formerly, and their alcohol is steadily climbing, so I look for the halb-trocken QbA Germans. New World Rieslings run into 13 and 14. Recently I checked the labels on 40 other whites in the house. ran 12.5 or higher, including a dozen at 13 percent, ten at 13.5, six at 14 or more. Of 42 reds, only four were 12.5 or lower. Nine hit 13 percent, two dozen ran 13.5 to 14.5–and five hit 15.
On July 11th, 2008 at 8:47 am ,Nicolas wrote:
Anything above 13% is usually off the table for me. 8% abv Riesling are just wonderful wines. I think many people are starting to see that those days.
Nicolas
On July 11th, 2008 at 8:53 am ,Low Alcohol Riesling | News & Blog wrote:
[…] was just reading a post on Dr Vino’s blog (http://www.drvino.com/2008/07/10/alcohol-can-it-be-too-low/) about low alcohol wines. Why people love 15% overextracted wines puzzles me! When we (at Pacific […]
On July 11th, 2008 at 11:32 am ,1WineDude wrote:
I love low-booze wines.
I also love high-booze wines.
Both have their place – and either can be done in an excellent manner… or a crap one…
On July 11th, 2008 at 12:59 pm ,Michael wrote:
I agree with Nicolas, low alcohol Rieslings are great — especially, in my opinion, with Asian food.
On July 11th, 2008 at 4:49 pm ,Personal Wine wrote:
I think it is quite refreshing to have a low alochol wine in the summer time, so that is what I try to stick to. When the heat rolls in I try to stray away from high alcohol wines because they seem to dampen the mood.
The wines reaching 15 and 16 nowdays, like Michael said, are just ridic. Not for me.
On July 13th, 2008 at 8:42 am ,Denise wrote:
I look at the style of wine more then the alcohol, so no, a low alcohol wine would not stop me from buying it. I love German Rieslings and quite often their abv’s can hover around 8% – 9%. If the winemaker is good even a high alcohol wine can go down quickly. I don’t think you should dismiss a wine based purely on it’s alcohol content.
On July 13th, 2008 at 8:47 am ,gary wrote:
I do not like high alcohol wines and therefore rarely drink anything in the new world style whether California, Argentina, Spain, etc… The wines are very difficult to drink except perhaps a single glass by themselves and they are terrible with food. For the German Rieslings my only comment is that I wish we had more access to the “less sweet” versiona as the habtrocken and trocken wines are really quite terrific. My favorite among the German wines are the Estes-Gewachs (great growths) which by definition must be “dry”, but they still have a refreshing sweetness which is part of the overall dimension of the wine and not at the forefront as with the generally sweet wines which are the majority of the imports to the US. It’s unfortunate as these wines are more versatile and much more interesting to me.
On July 14th, 2008 at 11:17 am ,Doug wrote:
Alcohol levels don’t really enter the picture when I buy wine, for the most part. I might pause if I see a whopper and I’m thinking about pairing with a light or spicy food. For me, and this is certainly not a novel idea, balance is more important. It depends on what I’ll be eating, or whether I want to just drink the wine by itself. I think low alcohol wines are just as good as the so-called “blockbusters” and all the “powerful, opulent” wines that “knock your socks off.” I don’t know whether it’s the wine critics, their fans, or a bit of both, but reading about all these “powerful” wines feels like reading ads for the latest action-packed, special effects jammed summer Hollywood hit.
I’m no Wine Advocate or Wine Spectator acolyte, but in all fairness, we should remember Parker has written praise for low alcohol wines. I don’t know about points, but he raved about Domaine de Pouy a tasty white from the south France that clocks in at a scant 10.5%.
On July 31st, 2008 at 6:46 pm ,Michelle wrote:
Hi – I’d really like to start buying lower alcohol wines – is there a list somewhere I can take to the store? i find myself more hung-over in the morning then I’d like when really it’s the experience of wine I’m looking for – not the drunkeness.
On October 16th, 2008 at 5:16 pm ,Kristy wrote:
Michelle,
I am with you. I would love to have a selection of wines that are in the 10% or less range. I didn’t even realize until recently that the alcohol content of our usual wines has been creeping upward. If you are a small woman who likes to have some wine with her dinner in the evening, this can throw you for a loop unless you are very careful to keep to one or two small glasses.
So far, I have gathered that Reisling, some sparkling wines, and a vino verde from Portugal are good low alcohol choices. I have also noticed that some White Zinfandels are pretty low, if you like blush wine.
If anyone has some other suggestions, please let us know! Thanks!
On December 11th, 2011 at 5:51 pm ,Weston wrote:
at the end of the day it comes down to balance. for me personally I dont like Residual Sugar in my wine, hence why I dont drink a lot of rieslings [germany being the main one] and Ive never liked the sugar cane note.
That being said big Paso Robles Zins are delicious if balanced!
On January 10th, 2012 at 11:10 pm ,B wrote:
Portugal’s Gazela Vinho Verde (9%) light with slight sparkle and fruit, and Casal Garcia Vinho Verde (10%) light even slighter sparkle. Both incredible crisp light whites for the $7 tag:)