When I first started drinking alcohol rather longer ago than I care to remember, most red wines were around 12-13%. Now, though, it’s hard to find one under 14%, and many are 14.5%, which, given the leeway in labelling in some countries, could easily mean 14.8%. So I had some sympathy with a friend who recently bewailed the fact that he couldn’t find a red he enjoyed at an alcohol level with which he felt comfortable. Oh, and he didn’t much enjoy pinot noir, because he found it too light.
The difficulty I had finding wines to suit him illustrates the problem. A combination of rising temperatures and the international taste for riper, fuller-bodied wines has meant very few hit his sweet spot. English wines and natural wines, say, might, but they don’t come cheap, while bordeaux would once have done, but, with a few exceptions such as the Tanners wine in today’s pick, ABVs have crept up there, too. Supermarket own-label bottlings tend to be more modest, as a general rule, but in the case of cheaper reds, that can often leave them a bit weedy.
