4 ms·

Is there any laws around this having to be accurate? What makes you say it's higher than the bottle says? I know nothing about this, so mainly just curious for

• jimnotgym 8y ago
  In the UK 16% alcohol wines attract a higher rate of duty, so being accurate is pretty important. The higher alcohol percentages in fine wine are due to more sugar in the grapes from variations in the weather rather than any choice by the winemaker
• AndrewBissell 8y ago
  My wife runs a natural-ish winery and I help out with some of the regulatory filings. All bottle labels have to be approved by TTB and include the ABV. They don't require you to submit any lab results in support of your claimed alcohol percentage, but if you're caught selling wine outside a certain margin of error it can result in some kind of sanction. High alcohol wines are somewhat in favor for Napa/Sonoma reds, but 14% is a cutoff for lower excise tax rates and a lesser regulatory burden in general, so it wouldn't be surprising if people are trying to game this somewhat. A funny thing about wine industry regulation is it's entirely focused on whether or not you are paying taxes. We've never had to file or demonstrate anything related to the safety or purity of our wine.
• swensel 8y ago
  In the US, New Zealand and Australia, wine is permitted to have a variance of 1.5% ABV. In Europe, wine is only permitted to have a .5% ABV variance. Taxes may be one reason why ABV is under-reported. [1] [1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/01/06/how-wine-labels-lie-to-us/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/01/06/how-w...