Wine Labeling 2023: Impacts and Major Changes

Understanding the 2023 Wine Labeling Regulations

The wine labeling reform, the result of several years of discussions, came into effect on December 8, 2023. This reform requires wines, whether bottled, in Bag-in-Box (BIB), or sold in bulk, to declare their nutritional value and list their ingredients. The objective is to align the information provided on wines with that of other food products, thereby offering greater transparency for consumers.

The list of ingredients may be provided digitally, and the nutritional declaration may be limited to energy value, provided that the complete information is accessible online. The wine industry is moving towards using QR codes on bottles. Wines produced and labeled before December 8, 2023, will not be subject to these new obligations and can be marketed until stocks are depleted.

Why this reform now?

This measure aims to provide consumers with comprehensive and transparent information about what they consume, aligning with current expectations regarding food product knowledge. It addresses a growing demand for transparency and accountability in the agri-food industry.

Which additives will appear on the labels?

In conventional viticulture, up to 47 synthetic additives are permitted. These additives include yeasts to stimulate sluggish fermentation, acids to acidify the wine, tannins to give it body, or oak chips for a woody taste without using barrels. Among the most common additives, even those authorized in organic and biodynamic agriculture, are egg white (or albumin) and sulfur (or sulfites).

Egg white is used to clarify wine and remove residual lees; it is eliminated before bottling. Sulfur, conversely, stabilizes the wine and protects it from oxidation.

What This Changes for Professionals

Wine professionals emphasize the complexity of wine labeling, given that ingredients can vary based on vintages, blends, and producer decisions. As a living product, wine may necessitate the addition of ingredients and additives to maintain its quality. These additions can differ even within the same cuvée (for instance, depending on shipping modalities for export to ensure wine preservation during transit), which can complicate direct labeling on containers.

To ensure reliable information, precise traceability of ingredients from harvest to bottling will be necessary.

The Impact on Purchasing Behavior

Will consumer expectations and their perception of wine shift? What will be their reaction upon discovering the names of certain ingredients? Will we see a surge in natural or biodynamic wines, which typically feature shorter ingredient lists? It is still too early to tell.

Other more mature markets, however, suggest that this shift will take a long time to materialize, and that simply communicating ingredients will not be enough to transform consumer expectations.

In cosmetics, for example, the INCI ingredient list, mandated at a European level in 1998 for all products, ultimately did not significantly alter consumer behavior for the first 15 years. It took time for organic brands to position themselves in this niche and invest in a narrative criticizing the traditional industry before consumers began to show interest in ingredients.

Applications like Yuka have significantly accelerated this process by offering a simplified and easily understandable framework for consumers, initially in the food market and subsequently in cosmetics.

In the food sector, the impact on producers has ultimately been significant, regularly compelling them to alter their recipes and industrial processes to align with consumers' new demand for naturalness. Notably, Liebig's advertising campaign thanked its customers for "helping its soups grow," thereby making amends for its past practices.

Our Stance on This Reform

At Les Grappes, we support this initiative towards greater transparency: it aligns with the deep aspirations of consumers in 2023 who increasingly want to know what they are consuming and to be able to choose between different alternatives based on objective criteria.

We are convinced that this progress will be beneficial for the market, enabling the wine sector to catch up with the standards of the rest of the agri-food industry and thus be perceived as more modern.

At Les Grappes, we nonetheless emphasize the need to educate consumers by providing them with the means to correctly interpret this information: the presence of additives does not negate the natural character of wine.

It is essential to understand that these additives, often in small quantities, serve to protect and enhance the wine. Therefore, it will be crucial to take the time to explain this to consumers or to provide them with simplified, yet honest and transparent, interpretive guides to help them make informed choices.