Woman pours two glasses of Trader Joe’s wine and feels nothing, then takes a closer look at the label: ‘Do my eyes deceive me?’
The label describes the wine as “low ABV, made to sip and savor,” and she states, ‘I’ve been drinking juice?!’
A Trader Joe’s wine label reading “low ABV, made to sip and savor” has drawn a reaction from a woman who had already finished two glasses. According to BroBible, TikToker Kenz filmed herself on a Friday evening in a pink robe after she felt no effect from the wine. She then checked the bottle.
In the video, she reads the wording aloud and reacts to what it says about the wine’s strength. “Do my eyes deceive me?” she asks. She adds, “I don’t know what to say,” before telling viewers, “I’ve been drinking juice?!”
She also jokes about who should hear from her. “Someone will be hearing from me!” she states. She then wonders whether the complaint belongs with Trader or with Joe, asking, “I don’t know if it’s going to be Trader or if it’s going to be Joe.”
Wine strength varies widely
ABV stands for alcohol by volume, the share of a drink that is pure alcohol. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism states that table wines average about 12% alcohol by volume and can range from about 5% to 16%. A bottle near the low end of that range contains much less alcohol than one near the top.
The same agency counts a standard drink as five ounces of table wine at 12%. That standard drink holds about 14 grams of pure alcohol. A glass poured at a lower strength contains less alcohol than that benchmark. Two glasses of a lighter wine may therefore not produce the effect two glasses of a standard one would.
Federal rules also govern how a producer shows a wine’s strength on the label. Under 27 CFR 4.36, a statement is required for wine above 14% alcohol by volume and optional at or below it. The rule sits in the part of the federal code that covers wine labeling. It lets a stated figure be off by up to 1.5 percentage points for wines at 14% or less.
The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau adds that a numerical statement may be left off wines between 7% and 14% if “table wine” or “light wine” appears on the brand label. The bureau gives an example of the tolerance, where a label reading 12% can hold wine anywhere from 10.5% to 13.5%.
A bottle with a low figure could therefore carry its strength in plain numbers or only in descriptive wording on the front. A drink can also turn out stronger than a person expects, as in a nonalcoholic beer mix-up. Wording on the chain’s labels can carry its own meaning too, as with Trader Joe’s limited edition labels.
The outlet states it contacted her about the video and would update its report if she responds with more details about the wine.
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