degree or degré, in French, the alcoholic strength of a wine, and identical to the wine’s percentage of ethanol by volume. This was traditionally regarded as the most vital statistic of all for everyday French vin de table, whose price was generally quoted per degré/hecto, as though its only important characteristics were its potency and volume (although, at this quality level, wines with low alcohol levels tended to have been over-produced and to be low in fruit and concentration).
