Michel Chapoutier in the Rhone Valley is fond of saying controversial things. A few weeks ago he talked in Drinks Business about how to best get rid of some of the alcohol in high alcohol wines. Best method, he says, is the simplest. Dilute the wine with water. He believes that it does not change the character of the wine and is gentler on the wine than other methods, such as reverse osmosis.
After reading about this I thought, but why should the winemaker dilute his painstakingly made wine with water? Why not let the consumer decide if she wants to drink the wine with its original alcohol level or add water to lower it?
I organized a small blind tasting for Per to see if he could taste the difference of 2% alcohol. In one glass, he had the original wine, a Cahors with 14.5% alcohol. In the other glass the same wine diluted to 12.5%.
He actually did taste the difference immediately. Less body, less fullness with 12.5%. But perfectly drinkable. Good idea? Well, maybe. On some wines.
(Editors note: the diluted wine was not at all as delicious as the ”cask strength” one!)
3 Responses
With today’s highly extracted wines adding water to tone-down the alcohol can make the wine very unenjoyable. I could see lighter bodied, high acid wines holding-up to this treatment tho. As you know, there are other chemical processes to extract alcohol, but they can be expensive and also introduce unwanted flavors. Easy answer, harvest earlier with lower Brix…
Ah, but that can be dangerous. Harvesting not quite ripe grapes will give you less alcohol in the wine, but will you want to drink it? ;-)
Thanks for the reply Per. Personally, I enjoy less extracted, lighter bodied red wines as long as they are balanced. Which for me typically means at least minimally: fruit forward (versus savory), med acidity/tannin. Altho, there are other winemaking techniques for increasing body, such as: extended cold soak and maceration – also barrel aging with the lees. Winemaking is a chess game, with many different strategies. The question should be: how can a winemaker achieve their goal with as little intervention as possible? Takes experience to make that happen!