Got the fall release letter for the Sandler Wine Co. The 2010 Connell Vyd Syrah (Bennett Valley) is listed at 11.6% ABV. For someone accustomed to wines in the 14% + area my question is simply how low can the abv on a dry red wine go?
Tom
I noted that as well, and even e-mailed Ed to see if it was an error (then noticed his comment “check out the low alcohol level!” in the spec sheet)…
Typically this bottle has been in the 14.1% range IIRC, so very curious to know what’s behind such a low abv this year…
We’ve sold some Spanish and Italian red wines as low as 10.5% and we make that the FEATURE for all the expat brits in town who actively seek out wines like that. They like to DRINK, not taste.
In the 19th century Bordeaux was commonly in the 9% range, I believe.
11.6% alcohol equates to about 21 brix. That’s not impossible in 2010 and 2011 in a place as cold as Bennett Valley. There were a good dose of Rhone wines in 2011 and Pinots as well that only hit 13% alcohol because of sugar being added. It can happen but I do not think flavor development is as good at that brix level typically. If there is a grape that can handle it, it would probably be Syrah. I might have to try that bottling and see, since it is so rare to find one at that level.
I saw and thought the same thing too. And then I thought, “there goes my buying moratorium, I’m out!”
I believe some of Copain’s 2009 Mendocino County pinots came in under 12% natural alcohol.
It’s arguable whether Beaujolais Nouveau really falls into the “red wine” category, but it would play in this alcohol range too.
Teutonic wine Co up here in Oregon has a pinot that is listed at 10.6…
Hi Kevin,
Unfortunately, I forgot to have the new domain name server’s mx records changed and I wasn’t getting sandlerwine.com emails today–of all days, the day of a new release! Oh well. Yes, the 11.6% is accurate. The fruit came in at about 20.2 brix. I accepted it because the flavors were good, rain was on the horizon, and it was already so late in the growing season, I didn’t think ripeness would happen in terms of a higher brix. I chose not to adjust the brix up (with grape concentrate, of course, the only legal chaptalization agent in CA) and thought I’d see how the wine turned out with a lower alcohol. I liked the results myself, and over the course of the foudre aging, I would sample people on the wine and ask them what they thought the alcohol level was. Everyone guessed on the lower end, but no one came within 1% iirc, most guesses were 13.5%, 13.1%.
Ed K
Hopefully this Sandler Syrah tastes better than the '09 Arnot-Roberts Alder Springs (it sounds like it does from what Ed says). https://wineimport.discoursehosting.net/t/ca-low-alcohol-movement-gone-too-far/64032/1
I had a 2010 Teutonic Laurel Vineyard Pinot Noir with a stated alcohol of 11% and thought it was pretty tasty. It reminded me of a decent entry-level German Spatburgunder and was priced similarly, so I was happy.
I’m drinking an '09 Sandler Clos Pepe tonight to celebrate the new release and it is really terrific. Made from grapes from a great vineyard by a great winemaker. What more can you ask for. Needless to say I’m going to be ordering a bunch of wine from the new release. Reasonably priced including free shipping. Count me as a fan.
I would have thought someone named “Rich Byrne” would prefer lush, high alcohol red wines.
Or, perhaps, be part of the Occupy movement.
The 2010 Arnot-Roberts Clary Ranch came in at 12% so I can see Bennett Valley doing the same.
Depends on the wine, in the cooler longer vintages you can get ripeness at lower brix. Some choose to capitalize or sweet spot with high proof to get ABV higher.
In shorter hotter vintages you can get elevated brix prior to “ripeness”, some choose to add water to get ABV lower.
The numbers are less important than the finished wine, taste first if you can.
I would not hesitate in ordering this if you have liked it in the past. Different is good if every vintage was the same wine would be boring.
I personally would need at least 10% as that is where I think the wine becomes much safer from a stability standpoint.
Roy - I don’t know where you got that. I think that’s probably too low.
By coincidence, I stumbled on an e-mail of mine from 2006 where I sent someone a posting of mine from eBob where this same issue came up in a discussion of old Bordeaux. Here’s what I said in response to Jeff Leve’s that the great old BDX were at ABV levels on a part with today’s. Assuming a loss of .3% in ABV per annum (I can’t tell from the e-mail where that figure came from – a French winemaker, I recall), the 29 Belair mentioned below would started out around 10.4%.
But, after some research, I’m not going to bet on the 10.7% figure for 47 Mouton because I can’t find anyone giving that figure for that wine. I can’t find the Broadbent quote in Stephen Brook’s book that Roy Piper cited for the 47, and I don’t have Penning-Roswell. Frankly, 10.7 sounds a little too low to me. From everything I have read, I’d guess a degree or so higher, which would still corroborate what us lower-alcohol advocates have been saying.
…
(The Mouton figures you provided are interesting, but the level at bottling, he admits, is a somewhat a matter of speculation. By his formula, if it lost .3 every 20 years, it might have started out at about 12.2% – pretty unimaginable today in a warm vintage.)
Along the way, I checked Peppercorn’s book. He, too, says the “great wines” of the 40s generally clocked in at 11 to 11.5% (2003 edition, page 24). And he recounts a lunch at Ch. Ausone in 1985 when Pascal Dalbeck tested the alcohol levels in his own glasses at the table. The 49 Ausone came in at 11%, and the 29 Belair came in at 9.5% (page 35).
I suppose with pre-phylloxera varietals (more carmignere and petit verdot, less cabernet sauvignon) and different vineyard practices, the ABVs might have been lower than in the 20s.
Some of it does does.
Last year, Dupeuble’s nouveau was outstanding.
This year, Pierre-Marie Chermette’s primeur, tasted side-by-side with his 2011 Cuvée Traditionnelle, was a winner.