Everything under control?

(From Off Licence News)

You'd have to be living on Mars to be unaware of the fact that alcohol - and its consumption - has become big news of late. Even wine drinkers - who like to feel that there's a world of difference between their sophisticated tippling and those whose overindulgence in spirits and RTDs ha s become part of our daily media diet - have come under increasing pressure to renounce the demon drink, or at least moderate their intake. "I think we've seen a gradual build -up of interest in alcohol levels," says Les Caves de PyrAne's Doug Wregg. "It's partly to do with increasing concerns about health issues and drink-driving, and partly down to the simple fact that people are becoming interested in lighter styles of wine." But here's the rub: while societal pressures are forcing many to limit their alcohol intake, the amount of alcohol contained in the average bottle of wine has spiralled in recent decades. There was a time - and it wasn' all that long ago - when it was easy to find wines at around 12.5 per cent abv or below. Now, with the exception of wines from a handful of winegrowing regions (most of them in Europe, see box), it can be hard to track down wines with alcohol levels lower than 13 per cent.

"In the past, growers would harvest on sugar levels rather than taste," explains Marks & Spencer's Jo Ahearne. "But the grapes weren' necessarily physiologically ripe - especially in the New World where sugars tend to ripen before the tannins. "These days winemakers are looking for balance - they want to get their fruit and tannins right - and though that might mean that alcohol levels are a bit higher, that increase is not really what they're looking for." The trend towards riper wines has also been driven by consumer demand. "Over the past few years, people have enjoyed ripe, upfront wines," says Vintage Roots' Lance Pigott. "I think it's likely that there will now be a backlash against that, and it will be interesting to see whether Aproducers can cap alcohol and still keep the fruit in their wines." But some argue that, in stylistic terms at least, current concerns about alcohol levels are exaggerated. "Balance is far more important than absolute levels of alcohol," says Wregg. "It's a simple fact that some wines can support higher levels of alcohol because of their structure and, although there are certain wines I wouldn' want to drink by themselves - a ChAteauneuf or a Priorat, for instance - if I was eating something really substantial I might not turn them down." Many also feel that a certain amount of pragmatism should be brought to bear on the issue.

"It seems to me that the alcohol argument has become somewhat hyped and is lacking in logic," says Oscar Foulkes, Cloof Wines' commercial director. "Let's take the case of someone drinking two 12.5cl glasses of a 14.5 per cent wine. If that person were to switch to a 13.5 per cent wine, they could increase their Aconsumption by all of 1.85cl - a little more than three teaspoons.

"Or, doing the maths slightly differently," he continues, "you would have to drink 13 glasses (each 12.5cl) of 13.5 per cent wine before earning yourself an extra glass. Most people I know would not be in any condition to drink that 14th glass." True, you can find wines that come in below 13.5 per cent abv, but the bottom line is that in order to consume less alcohol you either have to opt for a serious reduction in the volume of wine you drink or buy a wine that contains significantly lower levels of alcohol than ...