For those who drink an entire bottle and wonder why they are hung-over in the morning, I just roll my eyes. Do not get me wrong, I have consumed entire bottles in a night before, sometimes a bit more, but if I feel it the next morning I do not act surprised.

Last year one of my producers wanted me to redo a back label from 14% to 13% because the wine was 13.8%, and in France they’re allowed to round down. She labeled the French stock at 13.5% because she was convinced it would sell better. So the wine writers in France also go for the lower alcohol wines.

Yes, you are correct, however just passing along real world informal accounts of evidence, just like comments from the wine makers informally indicating they understate alcohol levels for marketing purposes.

100% label accuracy is currently extremely difficult at best. Label turnaround time can be months. Blends typically aren’t assembled until well after the labels have been ordered for various reasons. The Winemaker/QC/QA person in charge or ordering labels will look at all of the data in the wine tracking software that they use, and calculate as close as possible to the expected final blend alcohol.

So why is it reported low? BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT THE WINE WRITERS HAVE FORCED ON YOU! Customers want the wine flavors that only come with ripe fruit, but have been convinced through the wine media that higher alcohol levels are a terrible thing. News flash, the weather in California is MUCH warmer than the weather in the grape growing regions in Europe. Our grapes actually get ripe and don’t need added sugar to ferment how we want them. Wines get lower scores solely because of high alcohol content. Positive wine scores = sales because people buy what the Wine Speculator tells them to buy, so what do you think is going to happen?

I also love the people that think that a 0.5% alcohol difference is going to make any difference in whether or not they get a headache, it’s laughable. That’s right, blame the wine and not the fact that you drank the whole bottle.

And you really needed some study to figure out that the rising alcohol levels has nothing to do with climate change? Sounds like a typical grad student project.

So petition the TTB for stricter reporting levels, and go ahead and ask for calorie content, as well as every processing step that was ever involved in the production of that bottle of wine while you are at it. We will comply, and happily pass the added expense on to the consumer.

I mean, what do you really want? You want the flavors that come from ripe fruit, but at the same time you want lower alcohols. You want more information about how the wine is made, yet scream and rage when you hear terms like ‘watered’, ‘acid adjusted’, ‘tannin added’, ‘de-alcoholized’, ‘concentrate’ and a host of other terms you don’t fully understand. Oh, and make sure the wine gets at least a 90 in the Specualtor and costs less than $25.

I miss the days when wineries, and Winemakers, were allowed to make wine they way they want to make it, and hope sales are good because other people like it too. Now winery production facilities are led by the sales and marketing teams of corporations that wouldn’t know a good bottle of wine if it was shoved down thier throats.

Done with my rant, I’ll go take my meds now.

Luckily we don’t have to rely on anecdotal information any longer!

We have actual data. And the data says that all wines are under reported on ABV. The reasons *why* aren’t proven, but the math behind the result is clear.

One of the many reasons why I love data. Folks should produce more of it!