Go Low on the Wine

Filed in archive Wine Making on December 23, 2006

The controversy over the level of alcohol in wine has been a pretty powerful topic that I've been reading about over the past year while blogging about wine.

While I have to admit to enjoying a strong red now and then, I also agree with many of the wine critics that say enough already. Not all red wine needs to have 15% alcohol levels in them in order to taste good.

Wine critic and columnist Paul Gregutt brings this point home in his article that takes a look at some of his wine writings over the past year:

Whether you believe the blame lies with the critics who award jammy, alcoholic wines with high scores and gold medals or the winemakers who encourage vineyard practices designed to push up the sugar levels, there is no arguing that American wines have gotten more and more potent. The average wine from California, Oregon or Washington, whether red or white, has gained at least 2 full percentage points over the past two decades.

Despite the apparent popularity of these high-octane wines, my sense is that consumer tastes are changing. Elegance and complexity are becoming more important than sheer power. Wines that are expressive of place, that are true to varietal, that convey as much pleasure in their aromas as in their flavors, and that perform well at the table are in vogue.

Many Washington vintners have shown that this is, indeed, a perfect climate for making such wines. More often than not, those are the wines that you will see singled out for praise in this column.

Consumers are ultimately driving this bus. When you seek out aromatic white wines such as pinot gris/grigio, dry riesling, gewürztraminer, viognier, albarino, verdelho or gruner veltliner, the wine sellers, distributors and importers take notice. When that most elegant of red grapes, pinot noir, becomes the hip sip, it is not just because it was the star of a hit movie. It is because people like its subtlety and finesse.