Public safety alert: Americans could get more drunk than they expect because of tax law change

One small well-meant provision regarding wine in December's Congressional tax reform package could have a very damaging impact on public health and safety.

As part of the tax reform bill, Congress included elements of the Craft Beverage Modernization Act that had been kicking around Capitol Hill for a while. One important aspect is that it raises the amount of alcohol allowed in "table wine" from 14% to 16%. Previously, wines over 14% were taxed at a higher rate. Now, that higher-taxation line moves to 16%.

By itself, this is a good change that reflects the way wine is made in the United States today. But there's a catch that could be not just bad for wine lovers, but dangerous: label tolerance, or how much a winery is legally allowed to misstate a wine's true alcohol level on the label.

Currently, the label ABV must be accurate within 1.5% for wines under 14% alcohol, and within 1% for wines over 14%. However, because of the difference in taxation, 14% was a dividing line that a winery could not legally cross. A wine labeled at 13.5% alcohol might actually contain 12% or 14%, but it could not contain 14.1%.

Wine connoisseurs have known about this line and it has helped inform some people's choices. If you want a wine under 14% alcohol, you can confidently choose one.

More importantly, most ordinary American wine drinkers are blissfully unaware about how crucial this tax law has been for their relationship with wine.



The overwhelming majority of wines in America have been bottled at under 14% alcohol because of the tax law. So every wine drinker in America has grown up in a culture where a bottle of supermarket wine, if you don't look at the label, reliably contains about 13.5% alcohol. We know how big a glass we can have before dinner and still not burn the steak. Significantly, we know how many glasses of wine we can have at book club and still drive home. We don't have to make complex calculations: I can drink this much wine, and still be OK.

Add more alcohol to that wine without telling anyone, and you're going to get more burned steaks -- and more traffic accidents.

What will the TTB do? I don't know, and neither do they. I asked its director for congressional and public affairs, and he said, "We are currently assessing the impact of the changes made by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 on TTB forms, regulations, and systems, and will issue guidance and information in the coming weeks."

The TTB can make this transition safer in a way that I had hoped Congress would, had it considered the CBMA as separate legislation. Congress passed tax reform so quickly that it didn't have time to consider an issue like ABV label tolerance. But it's really, really important, and now the TTB must rule.

The best possible ruling for US consumers and public safety would be to adopt the EU standard of 0.5% tolerance. Every nation in the EU can bottle its wine with this standard, even countries like Bulgaria that aren't as technologically advanced as the US.

Failing that, the next best possible ruling for US consumers would be to keep 14% as an accuracy barrier that cannot be crossed. Our country's wine culture is based on this tax law.

At the very least, the TTB should apply the 1% tolerance standard to all wines. It's sub-ideal, and it will increase drunkenness, hangovers, etc.

But it's better than what I see as the nightmare outcome. If the TTB allows 1.5% label tolerance on all wines, that means supermarket wines currently labeled at 13.5% ABV could have as much as 15% ABV. People accustomed to drinking a certain amount of alcohol will suddenly be sipping a whole lot more.

That's dangerous.

I wish the wine industry would do the right thing and support accurate alcohol levels on wine labels, but I'm not hopeful. The industry generally fights any kind of labeling restriction. The spirits industry does a much better job of self-policing than wine, possibly because it gets more scrutiny on public health issues.  

ABV label tolerance is a public health issue. People should know how much alcohol they're drinking.

Once the TTB decides, the rule will be hard to change. The current label tolerance has been in place for decades. The future of American wine culture will be greatly affected by this TTB decision.

There is no page for public comment on this issue on the TTB site. Here is the TTB's Contact page. The best advice I can currently give for commenting is to call the Office of the Administrator at (202) 453-2000. If someone sees a better means of contact, let me know and I will update it.

You might also contact your Congressional representative. Don't take this for granted if you live in wine country. Your Congressional reps will do what their donors ask them to, unless you let them know they should represent consumers as well.

In a year, there might be no way for someone seeking a Pinot Noir under 14% alcohol to find one. Yeah, boo hoo. Nobody in Washington will weep if the TTB takes away the ability to shop for what we want.

But ... greater intoxication by unwitting consumers? Increased DUIs? It's a serious issue.

The 14% tax barrier kept us safe. Please, TTB, don't make our lives less safe.

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