The alcohol percentage on a wine label looks precise. 13.5%, 12.5%, 14.2%. It is less exact than it looks, and the margin is written into federal rules. For most table wines sold in the United States, the number on the label can legally sit a point and a half away from what is actually in the bottle.

The rule, in plain numbers

Wine labels are regulated by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), part of the Treasury Department. Its rules set two tolerances, depending on the wine's strength:

  • Wines at 14% alcohol by volume or less: the stated figure may be off by up to 1.5 percentage points either way. A label reading 12% is legal for a wine anywhere from 10.5% to 13.5%.
  • Wines above 14%: the tolerance tightens to 1 point. A label reading 18% covers a wine between 17% and 19%.

Producers can also state a range instead of a single number. At 14% or less, the range can span up to 3 points (9% to 12%, for example); above 14%, up to 2 points.

The 14% line matters more than the tolerance

There is one limit on that wiggle room. The tolerance cannot carry a wine across a class or tax line. The TTB's own example: a still wine labeled as table wine at 13.5% that actually measured 14.5% would no longer be a table wine at all, because it would fall into the dessert wine category, which is taxed differently. So a label that says 13.5% on a wine near the line is, in practice, a wine that stays under 14%.

Some labels skip the number entirely

For wines between 7% and 14%, a numeric alcohol statement is optional if the label carries the words table wine or light wine as its class designation. That is why you sometimes see an inexpensive bottle with no percentage at all, only the words table wine. A wine made from fruit other than grapes has to say so, as in cherry table wine.

What this means when you are choosing a bottle

Read the number as a general guide to the wine's weight, not a measurement. A label at 12.5% and one at 13.5% may be closer together in the glass than they look, or further apart. A few things are still reliable:

  • A label above 14% has to be within a point, so a 15% Zinfandel is genuinely a big, warm wine.
  • A wine labeled table wine with no percentage is somewhere between 7% and 14%.
  • Comparing two wines from the same producer is fairer than comparing across producers, since each winery measures and rounds in its own way.

If the exact figure matters to you, many wineries publish a technical sheet for each wine that lists the measured alcohol. It is usually on the wine's own page on the producer's website, and it is worth checking before you buy.

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