With the alcohol content of the average bottle of white wine creeping ever higher, many wine drinkers are looking for drinks that will deliver in the taste stakes without being headache-inducingly strong. With this in mind retailers are now cottoning on to the increasing public demand for lighter wines – the big name supermarkets and wine merchants are now offering ranges especially targeted at wine lovers who don’t want to go over the 11 per cent mark.
As a result, it is now possible to choose from a range of more than palatable white wines that pack less of an alcoholic punch and are correspondingly easier on the palate. A common complaint among wine drinkers has been that, not only do the stronger wines have the capacity to render drinkers disarmingly tipsy after just one glass, but they also tend to be bigger and bolder in flavour than lower-alcohol options, often over powering the food they are accompanying.
Add to this concerns about exceeding recommended weekly drinking limits with just one bottle of high alcohol wine per week and it is easy to understand why lighter wines are gaining a growing fan base.
Since the 1980s, alcohol levels in both red and white wine have increased by 1.5 to 2 per cent, partly as a result of rising temperatures in wine producing regions and partly as a result of a perceived public preference for bold, flavourful wines that have a correspondingly high alcohol level. Some responsibility for the widespread increase in alcohol levels must also lie with the wine critics themselves. With the public becoming increasingly adventurous in their wine preferences, many wine drinkers rely heavily on the word of respected wine critics to point them in the direction of new and exciting wines.
The problem is that these self same wine critics are often taste testing some 20 to 30 bottles of wine at a time, leading to a palate that inevitably becomes tired and less adept at picking up subtle notes and flavours. As a result, those wines with stronger flavours and, yes, stronger alcohol levels, tend to stand out from the lower alcohol wines being tasted. The resulting reviews have a tendency, therefore, to rate these more memorable bottles highly, as opposed to those whose lighter flavours failed to make much of an impression on the critic’s exhausted palate.
But now it seems public tastes have swung the opposite way and there has been something of a public outcry against the fact that it has become increasingly difficult to find good bottles of white wine with alcohol levels of 12 per cent and below.
Wine experts are united in their criticism of wines that use ‘reverse technology’ to lower alcohol levels – the resultant wine being less than a delight to drink. Instead, white wine lovers looking for a lighter tipple would be wise to look to the wines produced in cooler climates, as these tend to be naturally lower in alcohol than those of hot weather regions. The north of Italy, the Loire Valley, Bordeaux and the Mosel are good cases in point. Likewise, sparkling white wines generally tend to have lower alcohol levels than their still counterparts. Vinho Verde, from Portugal, is another good bet, with most bottles hovering at around nine per cent alcohol. Quinta de Azevedo Vinho Verde is a light, fresh wine that will satisfy most wine lovers and at 11% it won’t have drinkers feeling blurry after just one glass. Although slightly higher in alcohol, white wines from the Sancerre region of France are also popular among serious wine drinkers looking for something a little lighter – it’s rare to find one above 13 per cent.
In the UK, the demand for lower alcohol wines has led to an unprecedented surge in the number of lighter wines on the market. Retail giants Tesco and Marks and Spencer have both introduced lower alcohol ranges, while other supermarkets and wine merchants are increasing the range of lighter wines that they stock. Forget any preconceived ideas about lighter white wines being restricted to unpleasantly sweet bottles of fizz, the increased demand for lighter wines means there are now choices on the market to satisfy even the stuffiest of white wine snobs. All of this is good news for those of us who like to enjoy a glass or two without embarrassing drunken consequences – but perhaps bad news for the manufacturers of hangover remedies!
