The proof is in the alcohol

The other day I opened up a bottle from my cellar of Barberesco – Piero  Busso was the winemaker and it was called Gallina.

I saw that is was 14.5% alcohol and two glasses of it gave me a headache for the following day.

I did a kindness for a friend on the Rust and he wanted to thank me with some wine.

He shops at Sainsbury and I read of some of their reds priced at under £8 per bottle.

There was a Beaujolais, Rioja Crianza and an organic French Pinot Noir but the common denominator was 14% alcohol.

This alcoholic content is not far behind a fortified wine like a port.

With the trend towards organic wine you might have thought that these big reds would become unfashionable but apparently not.

One fizz I like is the sweet Moscato delicious as a buck’s fizz but only 5%.

Generally I prefer an alcoholic content of 12-13% but Southern Rhone wines, Malbecs and  clarets and the two big beasts from Piedmont – Barolo and Barberesco – are usually higher.

These are all great (and expensive ) wines but in every sense their consumption comes at a price.