Comments on Viva la Wino!: Château de la Negly "Cuvée de la Falaise" Côteaux ...

I'd like to see your average pot grower comply...

2009-12-14T14:45:17.068-08:00

I'd like to see your average pot grower comply with tax laws! I often get the feeling a lot of people work in a grey market like pot because it's all cash with no paper trail. Then add in the forgetfulness, and we're looking at some ugly audits in the future.

You're totally spot on about how the grey/black market aspect ends up driving Big Crime and filling up prisons. I think the alcohol industry likes keeping its market share of the intoxication industry, though. They pay the tax, so they stay legal.

Funny, that they don't think about pot that wa...

2009-12-14T10:41:28.343-08:00

Funny, that they don't think about pot that way, isn't it? We spend a whole lot of money locking non-violent drug offenders up and spending money on the prison industrial complex...Furthermore, the government drives the price up by making pot illegal, and encourages drug trafficking precisely because it's so lucrative. Funny that they just don't tax it like crazy and eliminate the underground element to it all, and of course, that would have a beneficial effect on deficit spending as well, since there would be a whole lot less money we'd have to spend on sustaining the prisons...

I think all they care about is taxing it. Under 1...

2009-12-14T10:30:30.899-08:00

I think all they care about is taxing it. Under 14% is considered table wine and taxed at a lower rate. Over 14% is considered dessert or fortified wine and taxed at a higher rate. They're happy as long as they get the tax, regardless of whether alcohol got there from grapes or added liquor.

Thanks for the info on ABV. I've heard that be...

2009-12-14T09:50:31.564-08:00

Thanks for the info on ABV. I've heard that before, but never in such a succinct way. Interesting, to say the least. That's a big variance. I'm surprised that solely for "health" reasons that governments don't have stricter requirements. Seriously--if this wine was 15.5%, and one drink is at 12.5%, than over the course of a bottle, you're looking at 6.2 drinks per bottle instead of 5. That's got some public health implications, as far as I'm concerned...

Totally with you on the ABV issue. Usually around...

2009-12-13T10:34:59.952-08:00

Totally with you on the ABV issue. Usually around 14% is fine, but above 15% it gets noticeable. 16%+ and it pretty much fully defines the wine, though a very few producers know how to balance this sort of wine (and get huge ratings as a result).

I find the huge wines get boring even if balanced, though. From my understanding, high alcohol can mimic sweetness because of its viscosity. So even fully dry wines can at times taste sweet. Plus oak adds some carbs as well, then you get all that bitter extract. Everything turned up to 11, so it's balanced only by extremes.

One thing to note w/ respect to alcohol is for taxing purposes, 11%-14% can have a variance of 1.5% on the label. I think this is why you see 12.5% on many imported wines, because it is always 'correct.' Above 14% a variance of 1% is permitted. Since producers must resubmit their label to the government if they change, they probably don't change it from year to year unless necessary. 14.5% may be anything from 14% to 15.5%.