The Rise and Fall of Cabernet

[Thomas]

Wineglut, I am with you all the way. Seems the latest in culture is to pile it on, including alcohol and extract. Subtlety and finesse are out of style.

IK, you may be right about the old days but I will say again what I have posted many times before:

Every wine producer in America, and every producer exporting to America, has 1.5% legal leeway, plus or minus, in the alcohol level stated on the label. That is so because it is difficult to measure alcohol accurately, and expensive too. Imagine: 12.5 could be as low as 11 or as high as 14--BIG difference.

The words Table Wine, in America, is a legal way of obfuscating the issue. If a producer can't measure the alcohol at all, then those two words can be used on the label in place of a %. That is because the definition of table wine inlcudes alcohol between, I believe, 8 and 15%.