Under US law, wineries must state the exact percentage of alcohol the wine contains on the wine’s label.The following content is accessible for members only, please sign in.

False. While it’s true that wineries must state an amount of alcohol, there’s a lot of wiggle room in the percentage stated. In the US, wines containing 14% or less alcohol, can be labeled plus or minus 1.5 percentage points. So that “light, elegant” wine you bought which was labeled 12.5 percent alcohol could actually contain up to 14%. For wines over 14% alcohol, a 1% variance is allowed. So, a wine labeled 14.5% alcohol, could contain 15.5%.