Two wines made in the same region, from the same grape variety, in the same vintage, at the same price. The only difference, as far as you can tell from the label, is the alcohol. One is 13.5%, the other 14.5%. Which do you choose? If, like me, you've learned that a single percentage point can make the difference between a bright new morning after and a sluggish one, you're going to go for the lower alcohol option.
In the wine world a wine's alcohol by volume (ABV) is more than a shorthand guide to how it will make you feel: it's become a touchstone for a fractious debate about how it should taste. Lurking in the background of the dispute is the creeping rise in wine's alcohol level: a 2% average global increase in the last two decades. The reason is that there is more sugar in the world's wine grapes when they're harvested – sugar which is then converted into alcohol during fermentation. The controversy surrounds how that sugar got there, and whether the effects it creates in finished wines are desirable.
Global warming has played its part: the warmer the climate – or vintage – the more sugar there will be in the grape. But wines have been made in hot regions for years, and yet you never used to find bottles with ABVs of 16% or 17% as sometimes come out of California and Australia. Similarly, there have always been warm vintages in temperate regions such as Bordeaux, but alcohol levels rarely broached 13%.
What has changed is the way grapes, particularly red grapes, are grown, and it's here the controversy begins. At its heart is the concept of phenolic ripeness: the moment when the pips and stalks lose any trace of green. Over the last two decades winemakers became obsessed with techniques such as cutting back yields early in the year to concentrate on fewer bunches or waiting as long as possible to harvest. But the longer you wait for phenolic ripeness, the higher the sugar climbs, and the more acidity you lose. And so, the smooth tannins, and lack of green flavours tend to come with a side order of high alcohol, frequently at the expense of freshness and, some would argue, complexity.
The backlash against high alcohol wines has a militant, ideological edge. Many winemakers tell me they've drawn an imaginary line over which no wine should cross. Get much above 14%, they say, and a wine can never be truly fine. Some put the level even lower: I know of several independent retailers and sommeliers that avoid anything over 13.5%.
I can't say I'm disappointed at this turn back towards elegance. But the move brings problems of its own. I wouldn't go as far as Robert Parker, the powerful American critic famed for his enthusiasm for big reds, who dismisses the rush to lower alcohol styles as "essentially a phony, anti-California, anti-New World movement by Eurocentric self-proclaimed purists". But I do think he has the ghost of a point.
Like Parker, I'm concerned that the obsession with an arbitrary acceptable alcohol level rules out some of the great warm climate wines, from Barolo to the Douro, from Roussillon to Napa, all of which tend to be around 14% or higher. The best producers in these regions don't try to push ripeness to its outer limits. And tasting them you realise that what matters isn't the number on the label, but a concept as elusive and subjective in wine as it is in life: balance.
Six balanced wines at 14% or higher
Taste the Difference Barbaresco, Italy 2010
(Sainsbury's £9.99)
The great Piedmont red grape nebbiolo's mix of ethereal fragrance and bustling, bristling tannic power rarely comes in at less than 14% ABV (as here) – or, for that matter, under a tenner, which makes this cherry-and-rose scented partner for mushroom risotto remarkable value.
Turkey Flat Vineyards Butcher's Block Marsanne Viognier Roussanne, Barossa Valley, Australia 2012
(£14.99, or £12.74 if you buy two bottles, Majestic)
Whether made in their homeland or, in this case, Australia, you wouldn't choose a white Rhône-style blend if you were looking for sprightly, seafood-friendly citrus acidity. What you do get with the 14.5% alcohol is a creamy, weighty, honeyed, honeysuckle- and peach-scented partner for pork.
Acustic Celler Blanc, Montsant, Spain 2012
(£12.49, Cambridge Wine Merchants)
A wonderfully distinctive and evocative higher alcohol (14%) Catalan white blend of local varieties that is rich in golden apple, peach and honeyed herbs, and full in texture, but cut with a chewy texture and mineral freshness.
Hunky Dory 'The Tangle', Marlborough, New Zealand 2013
(£11.99, Waitrose)
Like the whites of Alsace that inspired it, this novel Kiwi blend of pinot gris, gewürztraminer and riesling is boldly, richly aromatic, its ginger spicy, floral and exotic-fruited charms and richness of texture a great match for Asian spice.
Quinta do Crasto Reserva, Douro, Portugal 2011
(£19.99, Adnams)
Whether it's port or table wine, there's nothing shy about the wines of Portugal's Douro region. But the almost untamed intensity and power (and 14.5% alcohol) on offer in the consistently excellent Quinta do Crasto's Reserva is matched with a wild floral-violet note.
McHenry Hohnen Margaret River Grenache, Australia 2013
(£14.99, Marks & Spencer)
Big alcohol needn't necessarily mean an absence of refreshment. Made by the Western Australian estate co-founded by former Cloudy Bay man David Hohnen, this, with its unobtrusive tannins, is all about the sheer exuberant charcuterie-ready juiciness of its dark berry fruit.
