Look at the label on any bottle of wine, and you’ll see how much alcohol it has. Except for some very rare examples, the law requires it. I prefer wines with 13 percent or so. They appear to me to be better balanced. They work better with food and don’t intoxicate as fast. But most red wines these days are about 14.5 percent or more. Occasionally a lot more. One thing we know is that a higher level of alcohol in wine has a number of drawbacks, one of which is that the alcohol in a wine can cover up fruit flavors. Smell the otherwise “neutral” spirit vodka. It has an aroma—of alcohol! Proof that alcohol is volatile came from food chemist Harold McGee. In a New York Times article published in 2010, he wrote, “It’s no secret that the alcohol in drinks can get in the way of our …