Earlier this week, I was rummaging for a “big red” to go with barbecue ribs and pulled out an Australian shiraz that was labeled 15.9 percent alcohol.

The wine was almost undrinkable. What fruit flavors it had were simply obliterated by the “heat” in the finish. I didn’t make it through one glass.

Admittedly, this was an extreme example of a high-alcohol wine — most dry reds fall between 12-14 percent alcohol — but the experience dovetails with what some winemakers confided during my visits to the Santa Barbara and Paso Robles winemaking regions of California in recent years. Both winemaking regions have climates that allow winemakers and vineyard owners a lot of leeway as to how ripe they want their grapes to be at harvest, and some can’t resist the temptation to ripen the grapes to the point they create wines of 15 percent alcohol or higher.

But based on personal, and admittedly anecdotal, experience, many of those showy, high-extract, high-alcohol pinot noirs and syrahs and zinfandels are tiring to drink, and don’t age well — and the winemakers know it.

I suspect a backlash over high-alcohol wines has already begun, and consumer tastes are shifting slowly away from the monsters, much in the same way as consumers rebelled against overly oaky chardonnays and other wood-dominated wines. A return to something resembling middle ground would be welcome.

We hashed out some of these issues with high-alcohol wines on our Uncorked Web site (www.daytondaily news.com/go/uncorked) and triggered some rather high-octane debate.

“I hate high alcohol wines,” wrote Uncorked reader Jan. “I’m a petite woman and if a wine has more than 14 percent alcohol, I can only have one glass before I start to feel the effects. I would like to enjoy wine throughout my meal so I look for wines with lower alcohol.”

A reader who called himself “Smitty” agreed: “It’s difficult to find a Bordeaux with more than 13.5 percent alcohol. Conversely, it’s hard to find a California red with a content less than 14.5 percent alcohol. It all has to do with Americans’ affinity for over-indulgence. Americans don’t drink wine to complement food, they drink wine to get drunk.”

But Larry Schaffer had a different take: “Balance is the key to any wine, period. Not alcohol levels; not acid levels; not pH ... Everything needs to be in balance for the wine to be at its optimum.”

“Chiefwino” said, “I agree with the ageability comments on high alcohol wines. However, when young the real issue is balance. I have had some superb high alcohol wines that had a great balance of fruit, acid and alcohol and others that were like drinking bad grappa.”

Reader Mel had the last word: “I can’t help it, for my taste, bring on the BIG zinfandels. If they don’t age well, drink them young!”