Industry sizes up low-alcohol wine market
"There is absolutely no proof that moderate consumption of sound alcoholic liquor does a healthy body any harm at all." So wrote journalist and literature professor George Saintsbury in 1920. But attitudes – and health concerns – have changed radically.
Health-conscious wine drinkers now have the option to drink cool-climate wines – sparkling Moscato or German Riesling – that are naturally low in alcohol. But what are the other alternatives?
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Alcohol is effectively fermented sugar, and the more sun the grapes receive the more sugar they produce, which is one reason why cool German hillsides produce wines naturally low in alcohol. With more alcoholic wines, it is a question of balance, says Mark Pardoe, wine-buying director at Berry Bros & Rudd, the wine merchant.
"I can't use the word enough," he says. "A grape's ripeness should not be judged only by sugar levels, but also phenolic ripeness [skins and tannins] and acidity." For true balance, he says, nature is your guide.
Alcohol levels in wine have been rising for years – partly as a result of climate change and partly through the emphasis on phenolic ripeness. Where once winemakers would pick fairly unripe grapes and rely on long ageing to soften the wines, now they want full aromas and silky tannins, which means longer on the vine – and that means potentially more alcohol.
"I don't see many quality winemakers wanting to go back to making wines from unripe fruit," says Charles Lea, co-founder of Lea & Sandeman, the wine merchant. "Nor do I think today's market is prepared to accept the long ageing required to soften such wines, especially as they may never be much fun."
The alternative is to lower the alcohol content artificially, through either reverse osmosis (a type of filtration) or the spinning cone (a distillation process that effectively steams out the alcohol). Both have drawbacks when it comes to flavour, but they achieve the purpose of meeting growing demand for a low-alcohol wine.
"The low-alcohol category is a big opportunity for the wine industry," says Thomas Jung, group chief winemaker at Australian Vintage, a listed company that includes cheaper McGuigan wines but also the premium Tempus Two in its portfolio. Australian Vintage has just spent around A$2m ($1.9m) on a spinning cone process to launch a line of wines called Summer Light, at 5.5 per cent abv (alcohol by volume), the lowest level at which the beverage can still be classified as wine.
In Bordeaux in France, meanwhile, recent summers have been so warm that 2010 Château Haut-Brion broke records for alcohol levels. Kees van Leeuwen, Château Cheval Blanc's winemaker, has been studying whether levels can be lowered by altering root stocks or training vines differently. It is an issue, says Jane Anson, the wine writer and author of Bordeaux Legends, as "everyone is conscious that with Merlot, if alcohol goes too high, aromas can be affected, as can ageing ability".
Duty remains another issue for UK buyers. Wines above 15 per cent abv are taxed at £355.59 per litre of pure alcohol, as opposed to £266.72 for 5.5-15 per cent. A mid-range tax bracket has been mooted, but fine wine makers would probably still prioritise balance above commercial considerations, so the leap from entry level to connoisseurship would become even greater – something many would argue is a bleak prospect.
Ultimately, wine is about complexity, so it makes sense that an integral component cannot be dialled up and down like the volume levels on a stereo. Or, as Mr Lea says: "If a wine is too alcoholic to drink a lot of, the best thing is to avoid drinking a lot of it, not to seek to reduce the alcohol by force."
Source: Financial Times, 18 October 2013
