What's your take on abv levels in red wine?

I’ve had still reds as low as 11.8% up to those pushing 16%. My personal preference, regardless of all variables, always leans toward lower alcohol styles. This is a very open topic, so feel free to interpret however you’d like.

I don’t pay much attention. It’s about balance for me.

I just don’t want to notice the alc.; as long as I don’t notice it, and I like the wine, I don’t care what the abv is.

+1

+2

Never had a wine and thought it needed more alcohol, no matter how low. Have had many wines I thought needed less.

My take is that there is too much talk about it.

Never had a wine and thought it needed more alcohol, no matter how low. Have had many wines I thought needed less.

+1

What he said.

Never thought about it, but true for me too.

True dat…

TTT

Less alcohol means I can drink more of it.

Since I like to drink wine with dinner and like to enjoy 3 glasses or so, i find wines with more than 14.0% to 14.5% to have too much alcohol in them and give me more buzz than I am seeking. I could drink higher abv wines and drink less or drink lower abv wines and be able to enjoy an extra glass. Easy decision for me in my circimstance…

Brodie

If the wine does not taste hot I could really care less what the label reads. Some times I’m very surprised when its high or low based on how the wine tasted. As long as everything is in balance it’s a non-issue for me.

The GF opened a bottle of Zin last night that was atrociously sweet and had an undetectable ABV of 13.2%. That wine needed more alc, less RS and any acid at all. I countered with a Scherrer Zin that was 14.3 and balanced. Made all the difference in the world.

It’s all about balance, but in general I think a lot of wines will get “hot” above 14% alcohol. It’s also a matter of being alcohol sensitive, which might change with time.

Higher alcohol can also be harder to pair with some foods, where also low alcohol wines will have too little body for some foods.

I’ll repeat myself and agree with some before me: it’s all about balance. However, balance with the food matters as much as balance on it’s own for me. I mostly drink wine with food.

Never an easy question to answer, especially in this day and age with ‘knee jerk’ reactions to anything above some arbitrary threshold.

As others have experienced, I’ve also had wines that were north of 15.6% that were beautifully balanced and those below 13% that were hot. I’ve had wines that truly could use more alcohol - not for the sake of having a higher abv, but because the additional alcohol would add more ‘body’ to the wine and create better balance. Yes, I’ve experienced plenty of wines that were too high in alc and too hot, but there was no consistency as to what that level was. If I had to choose something, I’d say anything north of 16% . . . but then again, I’ve had ‘balanced’ zins in that ‘forbidden’ area so perhaps it’s not an absolute.

Bottom line - it’s about balance, and the tough thing about balance that seems to piss folks off is that it’s subjective . . .

1. Alcohol levels are way to inaccurate. The technology is very established, but apparently the fault lies with the labelling bureaucracy.

2. Riper winemaking styles have been (and continue to be) explored for all types of varieties and blends.

3. The pendulum might be swinging back from higher alcohol reds. Plenty of consumers (if not the marjority?) want their red wine bigger (sweeter) i.e.: more alcohol. There are more options for everyone.

4. Retailers continue to provide the broadest, most diverse set of fine red retail reds (abv-wise) that I’ve ever seen…and getting broader.

RT

Yep.
Best, Jim

Jim,

You really have never experienced a hard, backwards red wine that never came around and was lower in alcohol that would have benefited from the grapes being picked later and thus a higher alcohol level?

I think perhaps this needs to be fleshed out more . . . (-:

Cheers!

I almost never care or even look at the alcohol content unless I taste an unbalanced wine where I question the alcohol level. But there was a time I was trying to lose 10 pounds and paid attention to alcohol content. More alcohol = more calories. I even created my own rule-of-thumb formulas for estimating calories per glass for different oz pours.

k.