A German Riesling with 8.5% alcohol, can you 'healthfully' drink more than a 12% wine?

Question

8.5% wine

http://www.bcliquorstores.com/en/products/599274

Answer 1

The studies which indicate health benefits from drinking alcohol do so based on "units" of alcohol, typically 8g ethanol = 1 unit.

So, yes, you would need to drink more Riesling than 12% wine to get the same number of units, since that is the fundamental basis for health benefits, not glasses of wine.  Instead of a 5oz glass of 12% wine, it would need to be a 7 oz glass of Rieseling at 8.5%.

And I think there's a couple people a bit confused about wine %ABV.  12% *WAS* the standard a while ago.  The law in the US is that anything under 13.5% gets taxed as wine, whereas things above it has more taxes.  Combine this with a few leading reviewers who prefer stronger wines, you get a public that is used to stronger wines, even when they may not actually prefer that themselves.  We are led to believe that wine ought to have more alcohol than 12%.  So, producers make 13.5% wine most of the time.  Some may come close, around 13.0%, but a good 80%+ are 13.5%ABV.  There are some varietals which tend to produce more alcohol, such as Zinfandel (the real one, red, not this fake white stuff), which averages 16%, with some at 17-18%.  OTOH, you have Rieseling at 8-9%.  There is also another white wine, that I forget the name of, which is usually 11%.  But, aside from these, you can expect your wine to have 13.5%ABV.  I have personally never had a 12% wine, because I started recently and all we have is 13.5%.  I have had 17% Zinfandel, and 8% Rieseling though, never a 12%.

Answer 2

I have been enjoying and collecting wine for years and most of them are 13.5% alcohol. I haven't experienced any side effects other than a sight headache in the morning from too much consumption. Keeping the "healthy" component in place, if you chose to drink wine, just use good judgment and go for the moderate approach.

Answer 3

Correct me if I am wrong but you can't really have a pure wine (without mixing alcohol) that is more than 12-13% concentrated because the alcohol concentration produced by yeast will kill the yeast itself after passing that percentage mark.

Answer 4

give it to me I'll risk it!!!...yummy....................

Answer 5

I don't remember ever seeing any wine with less than 12% alcohol.  I seriously can't see any harm or any better health benefit from such a weak wine.  

Recent medical evidence has shown that even drinking grape juice would have the same benifits as wine, so is it healthier?  I would say not.

Answer 6

I guess if you consider a wine with 8.5% ABV healthy, you might drink les of the 12% wine for the same effect...

Although it is widely considered "healthy" to drink any type of wine, the health advantage from wine drinking is thought to come from the higher amount of anti-oxidents in red wine.

Answer 7

there are wines with small amounts of alcohol, definitely under 12%...and they tend to be white wines, which are higher in residual sugar.  

Sugar is fermented into alcohol in wine, the higher the sugar the less alcohol, and vice versa.