Drink more wine ....but lower the alcohol, please!

Here is wishing you all the best for 2008 and on this first post for the New Year, I would like to thank the good folk over at Answer.com for my nifty new word of the day widget. I was given the opportunity to be one of the first to try out their "wine word of the day" and I love it. Its like having a daily contributor to my blog. You will find it over on their widget gallery. Hop over and have a look. Thanks Liz and Jay!
Over the last few years as more and more Americans have turned to wine as their favorite tipple, media reports on the US eventually becoming the world's largest consumer of wine have been plentiful. The latest survey confirms that not only are more people drinking wine but per capita consumption is also on the rise. Per capita consumption in the US now stands at 2.77 gallons and projected estimates for 2007 will place the US ahead of Italy in total consumption of wine. Predictions are for the US to replace France as the number one wine consuming nation within three years. One of the reasons for the increased consumption is all the publicity about the potential health benefits red wine bestows upon us and I have blogged about that a number of times myself. But will that create a demand for lower alcohol wines? After all three glasses of wine at 15% alcohol is about equal to four glasses of wine at 12%. So if you like to drink about 3 glasses the second option is a healthier choice.
The higher alcohol wines and ways of reducing the alcohol levels have been a controversial subject for some time. Two techniques employed have been the reverse osmosis and the spinning cone method. Vinovation and Conetech are two California companies in the forefront of
using these methods. Dan Berger, editor at Appellation America, shares some good insights into this subject.
"Superstition" says Wine Enthusiast's Jim Gordon, about the believe by some winemakers that yeasts are getting stronger and are contributing to higher alcohol levels. And Jim Patterson at Wines & Vines debunks this myth in his sound explanation on the subject of yeasts.
Growing world wide consumer demand for lower alcohol wines has however spurred research into the production of lower alcohol yeasts as reported in a recent article by Wynboer from the Institute for Wine Biotechnology at the Stellenbosch University. Researchers at the Australian Wine Research Institute are also attempting to generate lower alcohol yeasts.
In the meantime make 2008 the year to learn one new wine word or fact per day by visiting my blog regularly and above all enjoy your daily bread with a good glass of wine.

Make mine a Dealc Wine, please!

Market demand for big, fruity highly extracted wines has caused many a vintner, particularly in California, to delay the harvesting of grapes. This has resulted in significant increases in sugar content with subsequent production of wines with higher alcohol levels.

But is North America's love affair with these higher alcohol content wines coming to an end?

According to this report from Appellation America dealcing wines is much more common than generally believed. Apart from adding water to dilute the alcohol content, the two methods employed in North America are the reverse osmosis and the spinning cone procedure. At the recently held new wine equipment Simei Exposition in Milan, Velo introduced their Dealc 2000 system. (scroll down the article to the Velo dealcing system) This new technology lowers the alcohol content in wine by a combination of reverse osmosis and distillation. The reverse osmosis permeate is the only part of the wine to be heated to remove the alcohol by distillation. An indication that European winemakers are also concerned with high alcohol wines.

British wine drinkers, who by and large were responsible for the Bordeaux wine region's success are apparently returning to the more traditional style of wine. Marketing gurus at the major UK supermarket, Marks & Spencer are predicting a change in consumer preference towards a lower alcohol wine. A vindication perhaps of Jancis Robinson's opinion of the 2003 Chateau Pavie as opposed to Parker's preference. As I discussed in my December 2006 entry on this blog expect many exciting and interesting happenings in 2007. I leave you with this quote: "The sun, with all those planets revolving around it and dependent on it, can still ripen a bunch of grapes as if it had nothing else in the universe to do." (Galileo, 1564-1642, Italian physicist and astronomer) Too much sun, too much sugar, too much alcohol. Maybe its time for some changes in viticultural practices, especially in light of global warming.