Is wine a strong alcohol?

To tell the truth, the alcohol content in wine varies greatly between 5.5% and 23% alcohol. There are several factors that affect the alcohol content of wine, including the style of the wine, the level of quality, and the climate where the grapes grow. With the highest alcohol content, these wines are the most alcoholic in the group. As you'll notice, many of them come from warmer climates, such as Australia, California, and Chile, where grapes get a lot of sun to produce sugar.

In addition, many of them are fortified wines, which are reinforced with a distilled liqueur. Now that you have a clearer understanding of the nuances between different wines and their alcohol levels, let's move on to how you want to serve them with your favorite foods. The red wine bottles you'll want to buy are Zinfandel, Sherry and Syrah, especially if they're labeled “fortified.” You may have wondered why Moscato barely makes you vibrate, while red wine makes you drunk and warms you up after just a few sips. So be sure to check the ABV percentage on the wine label to confirm how much alcohol you're actually drinking.

If you like wine with a higher alcohol content by volume (ABV), then your individual serving will be smaller. All of this means that the wine was supplemented with additional alcohol that could not be obtained through the cultivation and fermentation process. Alcohol also stimulates appetite, a classic reaction in which whole bottles of wine called “snacks” or appetite stimulants are used before or after main meals. My personal rule is to drink one full glass of water for every half glass or glass full of wine (or can of beer) you drink.

But you might be wondering, how much alcohol is there in that glass of wine? U.S. guidelines set the standard serving of wine at 5 ounces, which has approximately 12% alcohol. These lighter wines may be attractive if you're trying to control your diet or just want a little buzz to make you sleepy in the middle of a movie. According to Wine Folly, knowing when to pick up wines contributes greatly to the sparkling, gassy texture of medium-alcohol sparkling wines.

Even so, wines with a high alcohol content tend to taste bolder and leave a thicker sensation on the palate, while wines with a lower alcohol content have a fresher and lighter mouthfeel. Depending on who you ask, the alcohol content of wine can be divided into several different categories with different ABV thresholds. This process stops naturally when all the sugar runs out or when the winemaker interrupts it, sometimes more sugar is added (known as chaptalization) or by fortifying it with a distilled liquor to create a fortified wine.