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Oh, It's Too Much Alcohol For Me

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By MICHELLE LOCKE, The Associated Press

Published: February 23, 2008

Updated: 02/22/2008 08:33 pm

SEBASTOPOL, Calif. - California's big reds are coming on strong these days as winemakers pursue riper, fuller-flavored fruit.

A number of wines have been creeping past 14 percent alcohol and into the 15- to 16-percent range, as opposed to the tamer 12- to 13-percent of years past. This is largely because vintners wait longer to pick their grapes. More mature fruit is thought to make tastier wine, but it also means sugar levels have a chance to rise, which comes with the side effect of pumping up the alcohol volume. Warmer harvests only increase the phenomenon.

Some are calling for a halt to the so-called "hot wines."

"I just hate high-alcohol wines," said Randy Dunn, founder of Dunn Vineyards, who fired off an open letter last year urging consumers to demand wines of 14 percent alcohol or less.

Darrell Corti, president of Corti Bros., a Sacramento wine and food market, is also in the less-is-more camp, announcing last year his store won't carry table wines over 14.5 percent alcohol.

Still, big reds, many of which are highly rated by critics, have their champions.

"They fill your mouth with flavor; you can chew on them. They linger on your palate when you're drinking them and that's what Napa is known for - its big, chewy cabs," said Doug White, director of operations for Vintner's Collective, a Napa tasting room specializing in boutique wineries.

Among those who don't like the big wines, some have an issue with the style of higher-alcohol vintages, while others are wary of the punch they can pack.

One definition of the "right" alcohol level is if two people can finish a bottle and "wish there was a little bit more," said Dunn. "You don't do that with a 15.5 percent or 16 percent alcohol wine," he added. "You'd be lying on the floor."

The higher alcohol trend goes back about 10 years when growers started letting grapes stay on the vines longer to develop the full flavor of the fruit, said Kenneth Fugelsang, professor of enology and winemaster of the commercial winery run by California State University, Fresno.

One way to have ripe fruit without high alcohol is to use technologies available to pull alcohol out of wine. But that's not something many winemakers want to talk about for fear of crushing the romantic vision of wine as an ancient art untainted by technology, said Clark Smith, co-owner and senior enologist of Vinovation, a company in the wine country town of Sebastopol that reduces alcohol levels through reverse osmosis.

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