Laws Regarding Alcohol Content of Wine

Jennifer Elmore, Quantified Marketing Group’s in-house sommelier, shares some laws about the legal limits of alcohol content in wine.

 
• Wine must have a minimum of seven percent alcohol by volume to be legally considered wine.
 
• Within the United States, the maximum amount of alcohol permitted in wine is 14 percent, with a legal variance of one percent. Therefore, wine is legally allowed to have 15 percent alcohol by volume before being taxed as a fortified wine.   
 
• If the wine is less than 14 percent alcohol, then the label is allowed to have a 1.5 percent variance.   
 
• A variation is permitted because it is impossible to accurately predict final alcohol content before the completion of the winemaking process. Also, labels are typically printed before the bottle date. The biggest factor effecting changes in alcohol content is evaporation during aging.   
 
• Wines labeled as port must have an alcohol content of 18 to 20 percent with a legal variance of one percent.   
 
• In Europe, the legal ranges of alcohol by volume for wine are 8.5 percent to 14 percent. However, regional winemaking laws can further regulate alcohol content.   
 
• According to the European Union, variance in alcohol content may only be rounded to either the closest whole or half unit. For example, a wine that is 13.2 percent can be labeled only as 13 percent or 13.5 percent.        In Australia and New Zealand, the maximum amount of alcohol allowed is 22 percent. However, these wines could not be sold as table wine under EU or U.S. laws.   
 
• In Chile, wines sent for export must have a minimum alcohol content of 11.5 percent.   
 
• Alcohol content in Argentina is regulated by Argentina’s Instituto Nacional de Viniviticultura.

Sources: 

1.  www.winedefinitions.com (quoting the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau) 
 
2.  www.winepros.org 
 
3.  http://useu.usmission.gov/agri/labe (quoting the Global Agriculture Information Network Report) 
 
4.  www.foodstandards.gov.au/ 
 
5.  http://www.gkws.com/html/body_wine_knowledge.htm