View Single Post
  #4 (permalink)   Report Post  
Posted to alt.food.wine
st.helier[_3_] st.helier[_3_] is offline
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 95
Default Ancient wine was very high in alcol: reality or myth?

"Kent" wrote ..........

> The alcohol content of wine is dependant on the percent of fermentable
> sugar in the grape, nothing else.


Hmmm - a couple rather simplistic generalisations???

Could not sugar "not from within the grape" but added prior to fermentation
(chaptalisation) affect eventual alcohol levels?

And if fermentation was halted (by dropping the temperature of the must) so
that the final product indeed had significant levels of residual sugar and
lower alcohol levels, would not the more correct statement be "The alcohol
content of wine is dependant on the percent of fermented sugar"?????????

> Any wine with more than about 13-13.5% alcohol has been fortified in some
> way.


Again, an erroneous statement - some grape varieties (Zinfandel to name
one) will reach alcohol levels way in excess of 13.5% (16% is not unheard
of) without being fortified???



> Current wines are higher in alcohol than wines 30 years ago, by 1-1.5%. I
> think that's secondary to global warning.



More probably riper grapes through differing viticultural techniques.

--

st.helier