Two wines made in the same region, from the same grape variety, in the same vintage, at the same price. The only difference, as far as you can tell from the label, is the alcohol. One is 13.5%, the other 14.5%. Which do you choose? If, like me, you've learned that a single percentage point can make the difference between a bright new morning after and a sluggish one, you're going to go for the lower alcohol option.
In the wine world a wine's alcohol by volume (ABV) is more than a shorthand guide to how it will make you feel: it's become a touchstone for a fractious debate about how it should taste. Lurking in the background of the dispute is the creeping rise in wine's alcohol level: a 2% average global increase in the last two decades. The reason is that there is more sugar in the world's wine grapes when they're harvested sugar which is then converted into alcohol during fermentation. The controversy surrounds how that sugar got there, and whether the effects it creates in finished wines are desirable.
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