Decanter magazine to list alcohol level as standard

Gil Lempert-Schwarz, who lives in Las Vegas [where everything bigger is supposed to be better] is out of touch when he says "there are no red wines that anyone care to drink anymore, that are below 13% alcohol..."

What a load of rubbish but maybe those wines don't reach Vegas? Go to A16 in San Francisco and ask for wines by the glass at 12.5% and they bring out beautiful examples. Maybe Gil doesn't like them but he should not assert that nobody cares to drink them. Lots of us do.

Even more out of touch is his comment "If you listing alcohol next to every wine reviewed suddenly brings the debate to England in a serious manner...then you'll be blamed...", insinuating that this is a new debate in the UK. He should know that it started in England a long before it was considered an issue in the States.

For customers of The Wine Store this has been an issue for some time. We had a Spanish tasting last week-end and 1 of the reds was 15deg. and several would not even taste it. It is not unusual for customers to look for wine at a maximum of 12.5.
www.winetasting.co.uk

A welcome refinement, I have recently come to the opinion, reached through considerable personal experience, that there is a vast difference in my personal reaction to the % alcohol in a wine. The difference between 12.5% and 16% in terms of effect is considerable. I now refuse to buy any wine over 14.5% and aim for closer to 13%. Some good research on this would be welcomed.

Would someone at Decanter care to identify to the eager readership here, some wines from Europe (not German or Austrian) that are red and regularly popular drinking wines and regularly 'hit' the 12% alcohol mark? I'd love to know and am very curious...it's quite elementary actually...there are no red wines that anyone care to drink anymore, that are below 13% alcohol...it's just a fact of how these wines are made nowadays and a result of the much riper fruit that wines are made from. The listing of alcohol next to a wine - although it is by law (at least in the US) stated on the label - is complete nonsense as it has absolutely nothing to do with the quality of the wine. It only serves to inflame the already raging politicized debate that is going on in for example France where wine is pooled together with regular alcoholic beverages and said to be a virtual social evil for that fact. It's complete rubbish and Decanter should not get into this at all. If you listing alcohol next to every wine reviewed suddenly brings the debate to England in a serious manner, as it has been in France, then you'll be blamed for causing the Government to start regulating wine imports and for example begin to heavily tax or outright ban the sale of wines over 14% alcohol and then you have done a great disservice to your readership and your advertisers both.

A HUGE THANK YOU for recognizing that high alcohol levels are not all about "balance". (As if we shouldn't expect our wines to be balanced?)
Increasingly, I've made it a practice to check/inquire about alcohol levels, especially when dining out. Wine approaching and exceeding 15% can often mean more than a single glass will put the drinker over the legal limit.
And when will too large of a segment of the vintners recognize that, in the long run, it is not in their best interest to push the ripeness limits.
Let's hope the rest of the literary wine world follows your lead and consumers drive a much needed change!

Burt Williams of Williams Selyem: "Don't be afraid of alcohol, I'm not." That said, I have been including alc% on wine reviews for 7 years in the PinotFile at princeofpinot.com.

Unless you're looking for and more or less limit yourself to the many German wines (or wines styled in that manner) w/alcohol levels in the range of 8-9%, where do you find tasty well-made wines produced in the past 5 or even 10 years with levels at 12%. Almost any first or 2nd growth Bordeaux are usually well over that. I've tasted older California cabs that were listed at around 12.5 that had "green" tannins that still hadn't resolved and those with 14.2 or higher that tasted balanced and delicious. So, unless you resort to de-alcoholization of a particular wine, how do you get one in most vintage years made with physiologically ripe grapes to honestly come out with levels below 14.5% or even 15%, given the variance legally allowed on the label?

Even chardonnays, harvested too early tend to taste hard and green and lacking in fruit. After all, isn't wine a beverage made from preserved fruit. Maybe there are a few tannin "freaks" or those trained in a certain expectation out there with megaphones getting a lot of attention?

Great decision. To address Jon Bonné's point, I don't think it matters how political it gets -- consumers have a right to know this info.

Although wines at 15% CAN be balanced, many are not and consumers need to start looking at this and using it as a criterion for quality. It's a huge factor in food and wine pairing too (high alcohol wines, in my opinion, can be very difficult to pair with food), so as consumers become more educated about that subject, they should know what kind of animal they are dealing with.

I'm a fan of both Decanter and the SF Chronicle and I applaud both for taking the lead on this very important issue and being an advocate for consumers!

I read with interest your new blanket policy of indicating alcohol levels to accompany your tasting notes/reviews.
about time!
to regularly leave this important piece of information out, whilst detailing all other information on the label, has always confused me. i agree that the almost childish, gleeful years of high alcohol, over oak and over extraction are finally comimg to an end. good.we will all benefit from elegant well made wines .

This is the best news I've had in a long time. CONGRATULATIONS to Decanter and Jon Bonne at the San Francisco Chronicle.

I wrote to some of the most important wine publications in America a few years ago asking that they include alcohol levels, for all the reasons that you mentioned above but they replied saying that the readers were not interested. To me, it showed a lack of connection to the reader and a lack of leadership.

In addition to the reasons you give, namely intoxication, health, wanting to drink more, drink driving, I also explained that 20 years ago or so, the wine buying guides were helpful because you could rely on the description, as almost all wines were in the 12.5% to 13.5% range. Today, without mentioning the ABV a review in a wine "buying" guide is completely useless because one does not know if the wine is 13% or 16%. One of the US publications replied to me saying that, if it important, one you can look at the label. Well that doesn't work if you are buying on line! Even if you've trekked to a shop, if you've found a wine that sounds to your liking in a magazine, it would be highly annoying to find an alcohol level which would prevent you from buying it. What a waste of time!

Anyway, I hope that all wine publications now follow the lead of Decanter and the San Francisco Chronicle.

I'm happy to note that it is beginning to be more common in America to see ABVs listed on restaurant wine lists too.

Well done decanter.
Just need to find a way to make lists of wine interesting to read and job done.