Article on "moron-strength" alcohol levels in modern South African wines

A very thought-provoking article - especially when one looks at how alcohol levels have risen in the past decade:

Link to Neil Pendock's article / blog post

Some of those alcohol levels are frightening.

[Robin Garr]

Some of those alcohol levels are frightening.

What do you suppose he means by "moron strength," though? So alcoholic that drinking it affects one's mental capacity? Or so vile that you have to be a moron to want to drink it?

Some of those alcohol levels are frightening.

I was thinking that those alcohol levels don't look so out of whack from what I drink from Calif. " The sky is falling...the sky is falling" as voiced by ChickenLittle comes to mind when I read that article.
Tom

Let's face it ... no one wants to be associated with the moron label. And to be fair, I don't see too many signs of winemakers taking overt action to reverse this horrible trend. Just look at this as a signal that yet another person is fed up with the current situation and is trying to convince a large part of a sizable industry it is wrong. Perhaps the author sees a campaign of derision as a last-resort tactic to force a stop to the alcohol madness. On the other hand, it could just be another example of cheap inflamatory journalism.

We all can come up with examples of this alcohol-level problem, and here is my latest one. I just received a bottle of a CA Pinot Noir from my membership in the local wine shop's Passion for Pinot Club. This wine has 15.4% ABV ... yes, a Pinot Noir. This is outrageous; I have plenty of Syrah with less alcohol than this bottle of Pinot Noir. It also shocked me greatly, because I know this shop owner has a rather sophisticated palate and is a great Pinot lover.

So, I placed this bottle in my wine storage and made a note to drink this wine fairly soon, while there is still plenty of fruit in it. I also cancelled my membership in this wine club.

-- Clark

Some of those alcohol levels are frightening.

What do you suppose he means by "moron strength," though? So alcoholic that drinking it affects one's mental capacity? Or so vile that you have to be a moron to want to drink it?

I would say so alcoholic that drinking it affects one's mental capacity. Faster.