Sales of wine and many other alcoholic beverages are declining rapidly in the United States in a repeat of a softness in this industry that occurred exactly 22 years ago.
Downturns in wine sales occur on a cyclical basis in the wine business. They are often accompanied (as in today’s scenario) by a prohibitionist movement in which advocates of abstention spew questionable health warnings.
There is one new fact in today’s decline in alcoholic beverage sales: Alcoholic beverage buyers seem to be getting tired of too much alcohol in their lives. Low- and no-alcohol beverages are gaining traction with many buyers.
Mocktails are all the rage.
This has already begun impacting the way wines are being produced. And although most of the new styles of wine that are now being explored will not be visible on shelves for at least a year, the trend is already headed in that direction.
As consumers seek wines with lower alcohols, some things already are evident, such as an increase in sales of sparkling wines, most of which have lower levels; an increase in German riesling sales, many of which have alcohol levels as low as 7 percent; and an effort by California winemakers to make wines with lower alcohols.
One technique that has been used with rewarding results is simply to reduce alcohol levels by adding judicious amounts of water. If done carefully, flavors are not compromised and actually may be improved when the alcohol levels drop from 15 percent to 13 percent.
(Expensive California red wines have always had slightly higher alcohols. In the past 30 years, average alcohol levels have risen from about 13.5 percent to about 15 percent—or more. Although it is possible to make excellent red wine with lower alcohol, some high-end wine buyers are impressed by what high alcohols do for a wine’s “sweetness” or richness.)
New technologies have also been employed to reduce alcohols, including an exceptional machine called the spinning cone. Several large wineries use this device to reduce alcohols by up to 2 percent (occasionally even more) and produce wines of better balance.
Higher temperatures produce more sugar in grapes, and more sugar equals higher alcohols. To keep sugars slightly lower, many grape growers are retrofitting their vineyards’ trellising systems to create larger leaf canopies. Greater shading keeps sugars from advancing rapidly.
Additionally, new strains of yeast have been developed that theoretically can ferment grape juice to dryness and at the same time produce lower alcohol than traditional yeasts.
However, no yeasts have been produced that do this efficiently because chemistry gets in the way! Although it’s possible to use a modern yeast that gives some lower alcohol, the usual result is for only about a 1.5 percent loss, say from 16 percent to 14.5 percent.
