Show Notes

Minisode #18: How Alcohol Content Impacts Wine

Hi everyone, and welcome to this special mini-episode of The Wine Pair Podcast! I’m Joe, your sommelier of reasonably priced wine, and this is my wife and my wine pairing partner in crime Carmela. And we are The Wine Pair.

If you are new to The Wine Pair Podcast, these minisodes are just shorter versions of the regular podcast that we put on weeks where we might be traveling or handling other life stuff, and instead of tasting and reviewing two to three wines under $25 that are easy to find, which is what we usually do in our longer episodes, in these minisodes, we focus more on things like wine etiquette, wine education, and wine tips. Our goal is to make it fun and understandable to regular, everyday people like us! And our podcast is recommended by Decanter magazine.

Now, in our podcast episodes, we always give information about the alcohol content in the wines we are drinking when we go to the tasting section. Because, we care about it. Why do we care about it?

We know that alcohol impacts us physically in terms of what the alcohol does to our body and brain, but did you know that alcohol plays an important part in the tasting experience of wine? It may seem obvious as first, but we are going to dig into just why alcohol is so important in wine beyond making us feel buzzed.

First, alcohol content in wine—also called ABV (alcohol by volume)—is the percentage of ethanol in wine. It typically ranges between about 10% to 15% or so in most wines you run into, but you can definitely find lower and higher alcohol wines, and some people prefer wines with more alcohol, and some prefer it with less.

But does alcohol content matter? Well, when we dive into it, it doesn’t take long to find out that alcohol has a big impact on things like the body of a wine, the balance of a wine, and even the taste and aromas of a wine.

Let’s start with body, something we will cover in more detail in another future minisode.

Alcohol is one of the primary contributors to body in wine, along with sugar and tannin.
The reason why alcohol affects a wine’s body is that alcohol gives wine viscosity. That’s because it is denser than water and coats your mouth differently, which creates a sensation of weight.
More alcohol means a heavier, fuller body - like the difference between skim milk and whole milk.

Next is balance, which may seem esoteric, or extra nerdy, but is actually really important.

In a well-made wine, alcohol should be in balance with other aspects like acidity, tannin, and residual sugar. This has less to do with the absolute amount of alcohol than it does with how the alcohol is in balance with the rest of these aspects of the wine
A wine with too much alcohol in relation to the other elements can taste “hot” or boozy, and overpower the taste - we will often call out a wine that we think tastes or smells hot
A wine with too little alcohol in relation to the other elements can feel flat, insipid, thin, and lacking depth. It can also overamp the acidity or tannins.

Next is alcohol’s impact on aroma, and this is important, because it is really the alcohol that carries aromas. Think about extracts that are used in baking. When you have the right amount of alcohol, it helps lift and release the wine’s aromatics

Too little alcohol and a wine will lack aroma or not have the same depth of aroma.
Too much alcohol and the wine overpower the aromas - wiping out the delicate aromas and giving a sensation like nail polish remover.

Finally, similarly to aroma, alcohol impacts taste. Remember, aromas have a big impact on flavor, but alcohol also creates sensations of sweetness and warmth.

Wines too high in alcohol can feel, surprisingly, overly sweet. This is also why wines that are dry - meaning little to no residual sugar - can still seem sweet
Wines too low in alcohol can seem sour, tart, or austere or hollow and bland

If you really want to experience what we mean, try a dealcoholized wine. Because alcohol has such a big impact on body and flavors, you will probably notice that dealcoholized wines feel thinner, are less aromatic, and come across as flat - or lacking depth. This is why it is so hard to find a good dealcoholized wine.

Getting the right balance of alcohol in a wine is hard, which is why winemakers really focus on it. Things like the ripeness of the grapes, the kinds of yeast used, how long a wine is fermented, and the temperature it is fermented at all impact the alcohol level - some yeasts can live longer than others in higher alcohol, and warmer climates and longer growing seasons make grapes with more sugar - and so a winemaker has to carefully discern where to grow the grapes, when to pick them, and how they want to ferment them. It is tricky!

So, now, maybe you have a little more appreciation for alcohol in wine that goes beyond getting lit! Alcohol is not just a byproduct of wine, it is integral to the wine drinking experience!

If you want to see the sources for our content today and get the links to learn more, come to our website, look for this minisode, and open up the show notes.

You can also check out our other minisodes or our regular sized episodes on our website or your favorite podcast app. You can follow us on Instagram at thewinepairpodcast or Bluesky, you can visit our website thewinepairpodcast.com and in any of those places you can reach out to us directly, and you can also send us an email at joe@thewinepairpodcast.com. And, if you visit our website you can also sign up for our email newsletter which we send out at the beginning of every month, and you can also shop for our top rated wines on our website as well as great accessories.

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