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Alcoholic
Strength
It
has been proven that alcohol in moderate doses has beneficial effects on health.
The alcohol in wine is ethyl alcohol, the result of the transformation of sugars
due to the action of yeasts
in the grapes. It follows that a grape with a higher sugar content will give a
higher level of alcohol. This is measured in millilitres at 20°C and may be
defined as the alcohol percentage by volume. To give a practical example, when a
wine is labeled as 11° this means that it contains 11% alcohol by volum
e (or
110 millilitres of alcohol per litre of wine), one of 12° contains 12% of
alcohol and so on. By law table wines have to contain at least 8% (or 9° of
alcohol). In certain cases the label may state 'potential degree of alcohol';
these are usually sweet wines which still contain sugars which, at least in
theory, could ferment and make more alcohol; this is the potential degree of
alcohol.
Alcohol
is one of the elements which has the biggest effect on the quality of wine. It
is the main factor responsible for the smoothness, mellowness and roundness and
it contrasts with and masks the effects of acidity
and astringency, acts as a support for the primary aromas and plays a key role
in the various process the wine undergoes during development. This is why it is
very important to have a reasonable level of alcohol even if it has to be
corrected during alcoholic
fermentation.
Italian
law allows the alcoholic level to be corrected by a maximum of two units. This
practice is not common among the more careful winemakers who pay the greatest
possible attention to raising the sugar level in the grapes on the vine and not
intervening later. In Italy the most common system is addition of concentrated
rectified must, a colorless, odorless sugary solution obtained by removing the
water from grape must - a sugar concentrate in practice.
In
France, and also in other countries, sugaring is allowed; the practice of adding
sugar to feed the yeasts which will make it into more alcohol. In Italy the
sugar level can only be increased, under strict controls, in fortified or strong
sweet wines and in aromatized wines.
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