The other day I was enjoying a glass of Chalk Hill Estate Red, a rather pricey bottle that was loaded with tannin. What became obvious by the second glass was that it was also loaded with alcohol. I couldn’t drink a third glass if I wanted to safely navigate my way to bed.
While I could still focus, I looked at the label to see my hunch was right. The Chalk Hill had 15.5 percent alcohol. Knowing that the producer is legally allowed a one percent error, I suspect the Chalk Hill had more than 16 percent alcohol. That’s a far cry from the 12.5 percent alcohol I regularly saw when I first started to write about wine in the mid 1980s.
What happened? Lots.
First, California producers turned to a blowsier style — based on critic ratings and growing popularity — that hyped the fruit, lowered the Ph levels and raised the alcohol. Second, growers left the grapes on the vines longer to achieve phenolic ripeness but also higher sugar levels. More sugar converts to more alcohol. Third, sun is maximized in many vineyards in warm regions. Sixteen percent alcohol is common in zinfandel produced in interior regions like Lodi.
The trend is born out by the Department of Agriculture, which performs an annual grape crush that reveals the sugar content as measured by Brix. Since 1997 the inspection never fell below 24 degrees Brix, which is a sugar equivalent to about 14.3 percent alcohol. In 2013, the figure hit a record — 26.3 degrees Brix, or about 15.6 percent alcohol.
Alcohol is one ingredient to a full-body wine and that’s what producers want to achieve. Alas, alcohol is also an ingredient to trouble. Share a bottle of Chalk Hill Estate Red at a restaurant and you may be driving home drunk.
Buyer beware.