Can yeast reduce alcohol levels?

It's generally accepted that alcohol levels in wines have been rising, especially in the last couple of decades, and the subject has been aired frequently in the press and on this site. I’m not planning to rehearse the reasons for this, though the trend can be linked to at least three factors: climate change; choice of variety in relation to vineyard site (different grape varieties have different maturation periods and different environmental needs and are more at home in some climates than in others); wine-making practices (eg later harvest for greater flavour ripeness, more efficient selected yeasts).

Sylvie Dequin, an...