New EU Regulations for Wine Ingredients and Nutritional Labeling Come Into Effect December 8

Beginning December 8, 2023, the EU will require ingredients and nutrition labeling for wine and wine products.

In the past, wine and wine products have been exempt from nutrition and ingredients declarations that are required for other foods and beverages, having only been required to provide alcohol content and allergen information on their labels. This will change on December 8, when EU Regulation 2021/2117 goes into effect. The regulation states that only the energy value, indicated by an “E” and expressed in kilojoules and kilocalories, must be listed on the physical wine label. Other required information may be listed electronically, with a means provided to access the information, such as a QR code.

Apart from the energy value, alcohol content, and allergen information, which must be stated on the physical label, the required information that must be available online includes:

• The nutritional content of the wine, such as the fat, carbohydrates, protein, and salt content, listed in grams (g) per 100 g or 100 milliliters (ml) of wine
• The full list of ingredients.

Wine producers may also voluntarily list the nutritional content per portion in terms of glasses of wine, if the volume of a glass of wine is indicated.  

Additionally, if wine producers choose to provide the full list of required information online rather than on the label, the QR code must not lead consumers to a webpage containing any advertising or sales content. User data about the consumer accessing the webpage through the QR code must also not be collected or tracked. The QR code can only lead to the nutritional and ingredients content information for the applicable product.