It has been well reported that many Australians increased their consumption of alcohol during the lockdowns and many probably exceeded the Federal Department of Health’s maximum standard drinks recommendations. Those guidelines were tightened last month, so presumably some consumers will be re-evaluating their alcohol consumption.
Is it not an ideal time for our major liquor retailers to offer a dedication section in their stores for lower alcohol wines? There is a small dedicated section of zero alcohol wines in some stores, but if one wants to purchase low alcohol options of less than 10%, it seems one has to rely on the knowledge of the store team members to point out the options. As this category of wines is scattered amongst all the other wines in the stores, it is not easy for staff to find them all, let alone customers. And if you do find a staff member who is familiar with the location of at least some of them, trying to find them again after being shown the various options is not an easy task!
New Zealand seems to be leading the world with the “NZ LIGHTER” program, while Aldi in the UK is pushing their Featherweight wines, with the lower calorie story to help promote them. I emailed the Merchandising Manager at Dan Murphy over a week ago requesting they consider creating a dedicated section in their stores for the lower alcohol wines, but no response yet. May be he is on holidays!!
As we all know, Australia as a whole has a rather unhealthy relationship with alcohol which needs to be strongly addressed long term at the highest levels of Government. Alas it appears that the revenue stream, and the representative lobby groups, hold too much sway for serious change to occur.
How about writing to your State & Federal Members asking them to act? I doubt you would get any more than platitudes back, but on the chance that they agree with you it may be worth trying.
As a wine lover my opinion is making a separate section for low alcohol wine would struggle to get traction w/shops as well as customers. OTOH creating an identifiable shelf ‘label’ for low alcohol cabs placed among the other cabs, low alcohol shiraz placed among the other shiraz, … , … would be more successful.
I would probably not wander into a dedicated low alcohol section, but I would have a look at whatever was on the shelves with the rest. How would others react?
The following are for reds, I do not drink many whites. The <10% mentioned is difficult to find but non-casual drinkers are usually aware of the typical content from various regions, eg Most regions will usually be 14~14.5% and the Yarra Valley 13%; I had a few 2016s at 16% from McLaren Vale. The lowest in my cellar is currently a Bests Nursery Block at 12% followed by a few Italians at 13~13.5%. I always look at the alcohol content when selecting a bottle to take to a BYO for dinner, supplemented by my breathalyser.
Like you, I prefer regular wines, but there are times when a lower alcohol one makes sense, such as to accompany lunch. The likes of Dans do have a shelf label for some of their lower alcohol wines, but certainly not all, and very few are noted on their website for those seeking such wines. I have found only two reds in Dans that have lower alcohol (9%). One of these, a pinot noir, is quite drinkable, almost a Beaujolais style.
But I don’t share your view that a dedicated section would not get traction. Dans, for example, has had a dedicated area for zero wines for some time, so presumably that is successful. It is just too hard to seek out the lower alcohol wines amongst all the others, as it is not always obvious at first glance. Putting a special label on the shelf next to the price would be a help though.
I did get a personal reply from Greg Hunt on another issue last year, but I think it is a waste of time to try and persuade him to tackle the alcohol issue. Too many votes from regional wine areas for a start!!
Picking up on @PhilT comments about shelf placement. Having ‘lower alcohol’ wines <10% abv alongside the more traditional recipe would seem a good option.
Just Do Not call them ‘Low Alcohol’. Even at 8-10% abv they are still highly alcoholic. Hopefully full strength with some carefully reduction of the excess alcohol and not too much loss of the soul of the original?
It is obvious I was not aware of the zero section. Does it make it successful or not? Just pointing out I was not aware which reinforces why I have the opinion I do - eg it doesn’t exist for me since I am not going to consciously seek out a zero or <10% product, but might try one if it was in my field of vision where I normally look.
Thanks grahroll for your support. I will try and work through the two main retailers first to see if I can get some traction there. I have shares in both Woolworths and Coles, so the threat of raising their lack of action at the next AGM may do the trick.
I too was not aware of the zero alcohol section until I asked a team member where I could find the lower alcohol wines. Many of us ask for assistance if we are trying to find something specific, as I was, so I don’t think it would take too long for those seeking lower alcohol wines to find out about a dedicated section. I agree that there is merit in including some with the regular wines, as long as they are clearly marked to get ones attention.
Therein lies the underlying issue. It caters to those who seek. As for those of us who do not seek who are likely the overwhelming majority? If a goal is to change our behaviour you need to get our attention first… it will not be by ‘shaming us’ to seek, but by ‘enticing us’ to have a go, and placement in our routine comfort zone of displays is most likely to do that, in my opinion. Doing both? Could work but also could be a confusing layout in a shop.
Thanks for that mark_m. As you have pointed out, the law states “An alcoholic beverage which contains more than 1.15% alcohol by volume must not be represented as a low alcohol beverage”. I wonder whether the use of the words “lower alcohol” (which I prefer anyway) breaks that law. A number of the lower alcohol wines I’ve come across use terms like “3 standard drinks” for the whole bottle, while the pinot noir I mentioned states “Lighter in alcohol”.
True phb, some lower alcohol wines do come up on the Dan Murphy and First Choice’s web sites when you search using “Low Alcohol”, but they are probably only a fraction of what is actually in their stores. I am mainly interested in those from 5% up to 10%, as I think you need some alcohol in wine to make it taste like a wine should. Others probably have a different opinion.
5-10% wouldn’t be low alcohol but wines with slightly lower alcohol than comparable wines.
In Australia the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code – Standard 2.7.1 – Alcoholic beverages - defines low alcohol beverage as:
a beverage that contains not less than 0.5% but not more than 1.15% alcohol by volume
If you are after lower alcohol wine section, this would problematic for retailers as full strength wines have alcohol contents starting at 8%…
Australian produced wine and sparkling wine currently has a prescribed minimum alcohol content of 8% alc/vol, whereas there is no minimum alcohol content stipulated in the Code for imported wine (source)
and many wines have alcohol contents in the 8-10% range which is what you would like to see a different section for. These would be classed as full strength and be different to the low alcohol wine definition. A retailer would find this challenging to set up as there would be full strength wines and lower alcohol (possibly imported) wines (5 to 10%) in the section, with another section with low alcohol wines (0.5 to 1.15%). I have seen sections in bottle shops with low alcohol wines but not 5-10% alcohol content wines.
Should they then display wines in order of alcohol content to satisfy this need rather than varietals? I would prefer varietals as currently exists as it is easier to chose a bottle of a varietal one enjoys.
Wishing for a particular alcohol band of wines (-5-10%) might be like asking supermarkets to have products in a specific sugar or fat content. While it may be of interest to some, it may not be in the interests of all. It might be better to do some research before going to the bottle shop if one is after wines with 5-10% alcohol content.
I think some others have made their position on this issue abundantly clear as to how you would like the lower alcohol wines to be located in stores. But I still want the retailers to find an easier way for the consumer to find lower alcohol wines. Many customers don’t have the time or will to check every bottle to see if it meets what they are looking for. I am fully aware that there are quite a few in the 8% to 10% range, particularly from NZ. In 1979, Australia’s best selling wine was only 8%, Ben Ean Moselle. And to me, it is irrelevant to my quest that wines in the 8% to 10% range have to be called wines. That is simply a distraction to what I am trying to achieve.
My quest started about two weeks ago when I visited my nearest Dans store trying to see what they had in lower alcohol reds, having been unsuccessful in finding much on their website. I am clearly not one of that “overwhelming majority” that never asked where a particularly wine or styles might be located! The first team member I came across said she did not normally work in that store, so she found one of the regulars. He was able to find just one red, a Lindermans at 9%. I then asked about whites and he found a couple more below 10%. I came across another team member and he too was unable to direct me to any more. A week later, I visited another Dans and two of their guys were more knowledgable and found me another red (Paradox 9%). They also pointed out that several of the Sauv Blancs were in the 8% to 10% range (mainly NZ) and pointed out a few bubblies in the 5% to 7% range. A friend did a similar exercise in his local First Choice and got little joy.
I am not totally wed to a completely dedicated location, I am just trying to find an easier way to find what I want. As I’ve said in earlier posts, if the lower alcohol wines below 10% were clearly identified on the racks amongst the regular wines, I’d be fine with that. A few are, but many are not. Another option might be to have a dedicated group within each category so, for example, if I’m looking for a sauv blanc, I can easily see the lower alcohol ones I am interested in next to the regular ones.
Anyway, I think I will call quits on this issue on this forum and see if I can influence the key retailers to make the choice easier.
In store may pose challenges, but it could easily be done online with a slide scale, like that often done by price. One could change the slide scale to display any beverages within the range selected. This should be relatively easy for alcohol retailers (especially the bigger ones like Dan Murphy, First Choice, Celebrations, BWS etc) to do…and would require capure of % alcohol in their product database and modification of websites to allow filtering by such information. This wouldn’t require changes to store layouts and allow any consumers who want a drink at a particular % alcohol to find a drink within the required range. They could also do it for beers and spirits…the later could also provide a basis for comparison on a alcohol unit based pricing.
One disadvantage may be those organisations which advocate alcohol consumption constraint, may not be all that enthusiastic as it would allow one to easy work out how to maximise the ‘bang for a buck’.
Is everyone aware of the vast difference between the alcohol level printed on the label and what it could actually be for an Australian made wine? Here’s a quote from Wine Australia: "In Australia, the tolerance (difference between the labelled alcohol content and actual alcohol content) is +/- 1.5% for table and sparkling wine, while fortified wine must be within +/- 0.5%. For example, if a table wine is labelled as ‘13% alc/vol’, the actual alcohol content may be between 11.5% and 14.5%.
As a winemaker, I’ve always thought this to be rather concerning. There is an enormous difference between 13 & 14.5% (and this may go some way towards explaining that hangover in the morning but I also think there are some other things that contribute to this as well).
At the risk of pushing my own barrow, I suggest people look for wines described as minimal intervention or sometimes natural (not that you’ll see many of those at the multi national wine stores). They are generally lower in alcohol because the winemakers mostly don’t add acid which means they have to pick the grapes earlier which means less sugar available to convert into alcohol.
As for no alcohol wines - ugh
As a drinker of the occasional glass or two of wine, I’m more interested in other qualities. A lower alcohol content is of interest, but not the reason to drink wine.
A wine made with low acidity challenges. My guide book says acidity gives wine its lift, while the absence of it makes a wine taste flat or flabby. Not a criticism of your skills as a wine maker.
It is however important that we are not promoting one type of wine product over any other, if that is to our benefit?
There are many smaller producers and mid sized businesses that produce excellent product. They cater for a wide variety of customers tastes.
The alcohol content is what it is. The labelling laws permit the variation of up to 1.5%. It’s not proof or evidence that the contents are any different from the label. Hardly a rort or a scam or something to complain about around our household.
I don’t think anybody was talking about setting out to make low acid wines. @Bobc was saying all wine has acid but if your making principles permit adding acid (which is legal) then you have the option to use later picked grapes which have lower acid but higher sugar and hence higher alcohol when fermented. Conversely if you don’t add acid you must pick sooner to maintain acid and thus tend to have lower alcohol wines.
