Wineland Article May 2008: Taking another look at light wines

putting you in touch
with the SA wine industry community

PREVIOUS WINELAND ARTICLES | WINELAND HOME

Taking another look at light wines
Global trends suggest consumers are doing a re-think about higher alcohol wines. Although South Africa is lagging behind in health awareness and the drinking and driving enforcement, KIM MAXWELL takes a look at legislation related to the lighter categories and isn't enticed.

How many times have you ordered red wine by the generous glass at lunchtime and felt a little light-headed afterwards? Most of us enjoy wine with a meal, but often simply want an uncomplicated drink without heavy side effects and without sacrificing flavour.
Some parts of the world are experiencing a consumer backlash against high alcohol levels. But there isn’t an easy solution when conditions in warmer Southern Hemisphere wine countries naturally veer towards higher alcohol wines.
The UK and now France has recently enforced stricter drinking and driving laws, and while most South African drivers are lax until they get caught behind the wheel, growing health awareness and driving concerns are slowly causing a re-think of how many glasses are enough. Or whether there is a way to tone down what is inside.
UK government agencies regularly publicise messages about the effects of binge drinking, and to warn against becoming drinking and driving offenders as stricter rules are being enforced. A revamped guide to measurable units of alcohol released by the UK’s Office for National Statistics, considers a small glass of 12.5% wine as 1.5 units, a medium glass of 12.5% wine as 2 units and a 750ml bottle of wine as 9 units. These new guidelines effectively doubled the number of units in a medium glass of wine in Britain.
So it’s not surprising that Marks & Spencer launched a range of low-alcohol wines in January 2008, complete with information of allowable daily units of alcohol printed on the bottles.

Growing health awareness and driving concerns are slowly causing a rethink of how many glasses are enough. Or whether there is a way to tone down what is inside.

In South Africa, consumer awareness of legal allowable drinking and drinking units is fuzzy, in line with our limited policing of drunk-driving offenders. But there does seem to be a greater demand for lower-alcohol wines during lunchtime business dining. The problem is that low alcohol ‘light’ wines generally translate as light on flavour too, which offers little temptation for consumers to re-order them.
Most lower-alcohol wines are made naturally from less ripe grapes. But legislation introduced in 2006 by the Department of Agriculture means South African wines can also be made legally using processes such as reverse osmosis, nano-filtration, distillation and centrifugation, or a combination of these processes. It’s worth pointing out that local wines destined for export to the European Union may not use these processes.
According to Hugo van der Merwe of the Wine and Spirits Board, a natural wine should have an alcohol level between 6.5 and 16.15%. To be certified as a ‘light’ wine, alcohol levels should be less than 10%. “If you look at world trends, there’s a negative perception about high alcohol, with drinking and driving regulations, etc,” he says.
“Consumer demand for low alcohol wines seems set to stay in South Africa. But I doubt if more light wines are being made.” Van der Merwe says that ‘light’ wines being submitted for certification include dry, off-dry and semi-sweet styles. Sometimes grape juice is added to dilute the alcohol.
But the problem is still on the palate – the average ‘light’ wine doesn’t taste particularly enticing. When asked for his opinion, Van der Merwe agreed that ‘thin and watery’ is a too common characteristic. He admitted that there is a better chance that a light white blend would be approved in the ‘light’ category, than a wine which would have to conform to a specific varietal character to pass certification.
TJ Light was introduced to the South African market in the early 1980s. Alcohol hovering between 8 - 8.5% makes it one of the lowest alcohol wines around. Mary Krone of Twee Jonge Gezellen Estate says her feedback from wine shows suggests that priming of the palate makes the difference when tasting a lower-alcohol wine.
“I’ve noticed that people love tasting the blockbuster wines, but find them difficult to drink a lot of the time. Higher prices for blockbuster wines also come into play,” she says. “With low-alcohol wines, people at trade shows don’t know how to taste them after having sweeter or higher alcohol wines. At first they say they taste of nothing. So I encourage them to rinse their mouth out first and then watch as their perceptions change. Alcohol pushes the palate first usually, so if your palate is prepared, you’ll pick up more and more.”
Early-ripening French and German varieties ensure that TJ Light offers a more aromatic nose than most. “On a hot day, you’ll find takers if you serve a low-alcohol wine. There’s a time and a place. People often want something refreshing,” says Krone. “Men in the old days used to say: oh my God, it’s the ladies’ diet wine! But now we find a lot of businessmen love having it at lunchtime.” Twee Jonge Gezellen focuses on bubbly, but has listed TJ Light on a few upmarket restaurant wine lists. They plan to build on the TJ Light White and later include a rosé.
Distell’s Drostdy Hof produces the biggest ‘light’ wine volumes by far. The wine is sold at an accessible price and is aimed at convenience in 375 ml, 750 ml, 1.5 ml, 2 litre and 5 litre packaging. Within the company there is also a stronger focus on this brand.
A more palatable off-dry Distell wine is Fleur du Cap Natural Light Chenin Blanc. Winemaker Pieter Badenhorst says early harvested grapes are a challenge so the ‘light’ brief was to try and make the palate a bit fuller. His solution was blending low-alcohol aromatic Muscat with higher-alcohol Chenin. Volumes in 2005 were around 90 000 litres and increased in 2007 to around 120 000 litres.
The other alternative is to simply drink less. Dana Buys of Vrede en Lust reported on the www.grape.co.za website that consumer health awareness about alcohol consumption was one of the reasons this Franschhoek winery launched a range of 375 ml wines. He was responding to reports about a British Medical Journal editorial where deputy editor Trish Groves explored the idea that if banning super-sized food portions could help curb obesity, reducing wine bottles from 750 ml sizes might have a similar positive effect. Groves singled out high alcohol levels as a negative contributor.
“We launched a full range of 375 ml bottles under screwcap a few years ago for the same reasons,” said Buys on his website posting. “We have all the Vrede en Lust wines (except the Reserve) in 375 ml at exactly half the price of the 750 ml bottles. I believe we were the first to sell half the wine at half the price.
“Our research showed that many customers were interested in smaller servings but baulked at paying 60 - 70% of full bottle prices for only half the wine. The added advantage of half bottles is that one can mix and match wines depending on courses, and each bottle delivers two decent 187 ml glasses full of wine. They have grown in popularity and are especially popular in guest houses, hotels and lodges. They sell very well from the cellar door but retailers have not really embraced the concept of half bottles. Many restaurants prefer to sell full bottles of wine instead.”
Buys believes that consumer education is the answer, citing smaller wine servings as the fastest growing segment of the US retail wine market. South African consumers seem a fair stretch behind international wine trends. Perhaps the answer is to experiment with a mid-way solution and boost flavour without lowering alcohol quite as much.So it’s not surprising that Marks & Spencer launched a range of low-alcohol wines in January 2008, complete with information of allowable daily units of alcohol printed on the bottles.
In South Africa, consumer awareness of legal allowable drinking and drinking units is fuzzy, in line with our limited policing of drunk-driving offenders. But there does seem to be a greater demand for lower-alcohol wines during lunchtime business dining. The problem is that low alcohol ‘light’ wines generally translate as light on flavour too, which offers little temptation for consumers to re-order them.
Most lower-alcohol wines are made naturally from less ripe grapes. But legislation introduced in 2006 by the Department of Agriculture means South African wines can also be made legally using processes such as reverse osmosis, nano-filtration, distillation and centrifugation, or a combination of these processes. It’s worth pointing out that local wines destined for export to the European Union may not use these processes.
According to Hugo van der Merwe of the Wine and Spirits Board, a natural wine should have an alcohol level between 6.5 and 16.15%. To be certified as a ‘light’ wine, alcohol levels should be less than 10%. “If you look at world trends, there’s a negative perception about high alcohol, with drinking and driving regulations, etc,” he says.
“Consumer demand for low alcohol wines seems set to stay in South Africa. But I doubt if more light wines are being made.” Van der Merwe says that ‘light’ wines being submitted for certification include dry, off-dry and semi-sweet styles. Sometimes grape juice is added to dilute the alcohol.
But the problem is still on the palate – the average ‘light’ wine doesn’t taste particularly enticing. When asked for his opinion, Van der Merwe agreed that ‘thin and watery’ is a too common characteristic. He admitted that there is a better chance that a light white blend would be approved in the ‘light’ category, than a wine which would have to conform to a specific varietal character to pass certification.
TJ Light was introduced to the South African market in the early 1980s. Alcohol hovering between 8 - 8.5% makes it one of the lowest alcohol wines around. Mary Krone of Twee Jonge Gezellen Estate says her feedback from wine shows suggests that priming of the palate makes the difference when tasting a lower-alcohol wine.
“I’ve noticed that people love tasting the blockbuster wines, but find them difficult to drink a lot of the time. Higher prices for blockbuster wines also come into play,” she says. “With low-alcohol wines, people at trade shows don’t know how to taste them after having sweeter or higher alcohol wines. At first they say they taste of nothing. So I encourage them to rinse their mouth out first and then watch as their perceptions change. Alcohol pushes the palate first usually, so if your palate is prepared, you’ll pick up more and more.”
Early-ripening French and German varieties ensure that TJ Light offers a more aromatic nose than most. “On a hot day, you’ll find takers if you serve a low-alcohol wine. There’s a time and a place. People often want something refreshing,” says Krone. “Men in the old days used to say: oh my God, it’s the ladies’ diet wine! But now we find a lot of businessmen love having it at lunchtime.” Twee Jonge Gezellen focuses on bubbly, but has listed TJ Light on a few upmarket restaurant wine lists. They plan to build on the TJ Light White and later include a rosé.
Distell’s Drostdy Hof produces the biggest ‘light’ wine volumes by far. The wine is sold at an accessible price and is aimed at convenience in 375 ml, 750 ml, 1.5 ml, 2 litre and 5 litre packaging. Within the company there is also a stronger focus on this brand.
A more palatable off-dry Distell wine is Fleur du Cap Natural Light Chenin Blanc. Winemaker Pieter Badenhorst says early harvested grapes are a challenge so the ‘light’ brief was to try and make the palate a bit fuller. His solution was blending low-alcohol aromatic Muscat with higher-alcohol Chenin. Volumes in 2005 were around 90 000 litres and increased in 2007 to around 120 000 litres.
The other alternative is to simply drink less. Dana Buys of Vrede en Lust reported on the www.grape.co.za website that consumer health awareness about alcohol consumption was one of the reasons this Franschhoek winery launched a range of 375 ml wines. He was responding to reports about a British Medical Journal editorial where deputy editor Trish Groves explored the idea that if banning super-sized food portions could help curb obesity, reducing wine bottles from 750 ml sizes might have a similar positive effect. Groves singled out high alcohol levels as a negative contributor.
“We launched a full range of 375 ml bottles under screwcap a few years ago for the same reasons,” said Buys on his website posting. “We have all the Vrede en Lust wines (except the Reserve) in 375 ml at exactly half the price of the 750 ml bottles. I believe we were the first to sell half the wine at half the price.
“Our research showed that many customers were interested in smaller servings but baulked at paying 60 - 70% of full bottle prices for only half the wine. The added advantage of half bottles is that one can mix and match wines depending on courses, and each bottle delivers two decent 187 ml glasses full of wine. They have grown in popularity and are especially popular in guest houses, hotels and lodges. They sell very well from the cellar door but retailers have not really embraced the concept of half bottles. Many restaurants prefer to sell full bottles of wine instead.”
Buys believes that consumer education is the answer, citing smaller wine servings as the fastest growing segment of the US retail wine market. South African consumers seem a fair stretch behind international wine trends. Perhaps the answer is to experiment with a mid-way solution and boost flavour without lowering alcohol quite as much.

Visit our sister sites:

Technical guide for wine producers

South African wine farmers' representative organisation

2009/10 Directory Now Available!
Facts, figures, contact details and much more...