The Plan of St. Gall a study of the architecture & economy of & life in a paradigmatic Carolingian monastery |
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 | The Plan of St. Gall |  |
No difference in alcoholic content between ancient
and modern wines
Concerning the concentration of alcohol in wine, there
is no reason to presume any appreciable difference between
wines of ancient and modern times. Table wines (wine consumed
with meals) cannot have less than 8 per cent alcohol
by volume (at lower levels, the wine will not be stable, and
will tend to spoil), and in general no more than 12 per cent.
(At levels of alcohol higher than this, the wines are no
longer table wines but are classified as sweet wines, the
production of which requires special treatment or fortification
by artificial sugars.)[225]
The concentration of alcohol in wine is conditioned by the volume
of sugar occurring in the grapes from which the wine is made. My
colleagues, M. A. Amerine and William B. Fretter, inform me that the
sugar content of Central European grapes varies roughly between 16
per cent and an upper limit of 24 per cent, yielding a lower limit of 8 per
cent and an upper limit of 12 per cent alcohol in the wine. If the sugar
content falls below or rises above these limits, the yeast cells which
convert the sugar into alcohol will either not be capable of starting
fermentation or will cease to perform that function through attrition in
too high a volume of alcohol. For more detail on the technology of wine-making,
see Amerine and Joslyn, 1970 (2nd. ed.), especially chaps. 7, 8,
9, and 10.
| The Plan of St. Gall | |