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Rejoice! Study Says Wine Is Boozier Than Advertised
By
Garth Johnston
Published Jul 13, 2011
Modified Jul 13, 2011
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By
Garth Johnston
Published Jul 13, 2011
Modified Jul 13, 2011
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Wine is getting boozier, though you wouldn't know it from looking at labels. Because most countries allow winemakers a percentage point or more leeway when identifying their product's alcoholic content—and because most people like to think of their wine as a light drink—a new study from the American Association of Wine Economists [PDF] has found that 57 percent of more than 129,000 wines tested were stronger than their labels declared. Also, how do we become wine economists?
The study was inspired by the fact that the average amount of sugar in California grapes has risen by more than 11 percent between 1980 and 2007 and yet, despite the fact that sugar essentially converts directly into alcohol, a corresponding rise in alcoholic content had not been seen. And so, using data from Ontario (one of the few places to test the alcohol content of every incoming wine), the researchers went about trying to figure out what was up. And that would be the average alcoholic content of the wines tested, which came from around the world. Though the average listed content was 13.1 percent the actual average content was 13.6.
There are a number of reasons for this discrepancy—which is not illegal as most countries give some leeway when it comes to listing alcoholic contents—but the main one seems to be to please the consumer. The paper's authors, led by Julian Alston at the University of California, mention "informal discussions with some winemakers who have admitted that they deliberately chose to understate the alcohol content on a wine label, within the range of error permitted by the law, because they believed that it would be advantageous for marketing the wine to do so. In one instance, we were told specifically that the stated alcohol content was much closer to what consumers would expect to find in a high quality wine of the type in question."
Put another way, "I think winemakers want to endow their wines with the sensory appeal associated with ripe flavours and concomitant high alcohol but know that many consumers are intellectually opposed to high alcohol levels," a British wine critic told the Guardian. "They know that lots of people first 'taste with their eyes', by checking the alcohol level printed on the label."
So, the next time you throw a bottle on your bike and then wake up with a splitting headache? It wasn't your fault—blame the pain on that extra .5 percent!
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alcoholic content
american association of wine economists
study
wine
Garth Johnston
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