Argentina Establishes Standard for Natural Sweet Wines

On a sunny day on July 15, 2024, the National Institute of Viticulture of Argentina announced resolution 25/2024, which details a series of new standards and regulations for natural sweet wines. These regulations not only provide clear guidance for the production process of natural sweet wine, but also provide a reliable basis for consumers to choose and purchase.

According to the new standards, the so-called natural dessert wine refers to those using fresh ripe grapes or fresh grape juice as raw materials, and through a partial fermentation process to obtain drinks. In these standards, the alcohol content requirement is set to be at least 5%, which is an important indicator to ensure the taste and quality of the wine. In addition, in order to ensure the sweetness of natural sweet wine, the minimum standard of reducing sugar content is also defined in the regulations, that is, the content of reducing sugar per litre of drinks must not be less than 20 grams. At the same time, in order to ensure the safety and hygiene of drinks, the new standard also stipulates the maximum use of sulfur dioxide, which shall not exceed 250 milligrams per liter.

In order to enable consumers to clearly identify such products, the new regulations also clearly require that the words "NATURAL SWEET WINE" must be clearly marked on the label of the bottle, so that consumers can clearly identify the real natural sweet wine at the time of purchase.

The publication and implementation of this new standard marks an important step in the production and marketing of natural dessert wines in Argentina. Its introduction will not only help regulate the entire industry, improve product quality and protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers, but also further promote the healthy and orderly development of the Argentine wine industry and provide better and more reliable Argentine wine products for consumers around the world.