Excuse me!! You DID miss my point!! And "what" info did I give that
is incorrect? If you think the ATF's "leeway" of 1.5% will allow you
to "label" a wine at 13.8% that they can pull off the shelf and
"measure" at 14.01% you are sadly mistaken!! As I said, if you
repeatedly do that, they WILL take away your permit! There is ZERO
tolerance for "crossing" tax brackets!!

Your argument about differences between barrels or batches is
meaningless in a commercial winery. We generally blend or "cuvee" from
multiple barrels and check the alcohol on the blend for the COLA. And
we, and everyone else that I know, use an ebulliometer because we
believe it to have the best accuracy for the buck!! When I calibrate
my ebu to atmospheric pressure with water, I can get repeated
measurements on a given sample within +/- 0.2% over the course of an
hour or so. In these days of longer hang time we're seeing more and
more wines in the high 13's. If I got multiple readings of 13.8 or
13.9 with the ebu, I would send a sample to ETS labs before committing
to the number I put on my label, and pay the "right" tax.

Hence, my original response to Maurice!

Charlie