New EU wine label regulations guide

Laws applying from 8 December 2023 will require labelling changes for wines exported to the EU. For each SKU produced on or after 8 December 2023, producers must disclose:

• a nutrition declaration
• an energy value, and;
• a list of ingredients.

The provision of that information is in addition to existing EU labelling requirements (which must continue to be complied with). Producers will be able to decide to display nutrition declarations and lists of ingredients on-label or “off-label QR code which appears on a product’s label, provided certain conditions are met.

The information must appear in a language easily understood by the consumers of the Member States where the wine is marketed and appear in 24 languages.  

It was originally contemplated that the new requirements would apply to wine “produced and labelled” on or after 8 December 2023.
However, the law was amended on 31 July 2023, making it clear that the EU’s new requirements will only apply to wine “produced” on or after 8 December 2023.

The EU’s new requirements will only apply to wine produced in the 2024 vintage and beyond, and • wine produced in the 2023 vintage and earlier, and labelled in accordance with then-current/existing EU labelling requirements (i.e. as they stood prior to 8 December 2023), may continue to be sold in the EU until stocks are exhausted.

The EU’s new requirements regarding nutrition and ingredient labelling apply in all 27 Member States, however, due to Brexit, will not apply to wine sold in the UK (although will apply to the extent that wine is subsequently “re-exported” from the UK into the EU).

What information needs to be provided to consumers?

Consumers need to be provided with nutrition and ingredient information about your wine. There are two options for providing this information:

The following also applies to your physical label:

Field of vision

The nutrition and ingredient information must appear in the same field of vision as the other mandatory information. This includes your link to your QR code.

Language

The new information needs to be in a language easily understood bythe consumer in the country where the product is marketed. For the avoidance ofdoubt, this includes any information you are including on your physical label, even if putting some information on the e-label. This may make back labels for multiple EU markets more difficult (particularly if you choose not to use e-labelling). Please note these language obligations apply to e-labels as well. PinotQR offers automatic translation in all 24 languages spoken in the EU.

Legibility, font size and general accessibility

The usual requirements for legibility still apply. The font size for any additions to your label must be the same as for other mandatory information (ie a minimum of 1.2mm tall based on the height of a lower case “x”). It must also be indelible and not easily removable. We understand that the EU will accept the new information to be provided by an additional sticker, provided that the label is not easily removable and the other requirements (eg field of vision) are met.

E-labelling

Businesses may do one of the following:

• Create their own e-labels to meet the requirements; or
• Work with an e-labelling provider such as PinotQR

If you choose to take this first option, you will need to take particular care to ensure that you comply with the various e-labelling requirements. There are a number of areas where businesses may encounter pitfalls (eg by including marketing information or by failing to provide the information in the appropriate languages). It is for this reason we expect many businesses will work with an e-labelling provider; however, it is ultimately a decision for each business.

What's an E-label?

The regulation only specifies that the information must be provided by “electronic means”. However, a hyperlink to a website is not sufficient.

We understand that the EU expects the link to be able to be read/scanned by a smartphone and immediately converted to a URL. This also means that the information must be available without downloading an app.

We understand that the EU will accept a single QR code which contains both a link for consumers and also performs the role of the EAN/IAN code ( it can also perform like a barcode for retailers). However, consumers should not be exposed to irrelevant information about product identification.

How to add a QR code to your label

Each e-labelling providers (discussed further below) may have their own guidance on how to place a QR code. The regulations do not specify a size, but it must be marked conspicuously and easily visible/legible. We recommend testing your QR codes as printed to make sure they are easy to scan.

The QR code must be clearly distinguishable from surrounding text/graphics. We suggest that the Code must be at least 13mmx13mm (and no more than 16mmx16mm). We also recommend printing 300 dpi or higher to prevent issues with scanning. QR codes will also have a quiet zone of clear space around the QR code. You should discuss the size with your specific printing provider.

If you attach any language to your QR code on the physical label (eg a call to action like “scan here for nutritional information”), our understanding is that it may trigger the obligations to provide that language in every language that consumers may encounter it.

Nutrition declarations

For each SKU produced on or after 8 December 2023 and sold in the EU, producers must disclose a nutrition declaration which complies with the EU’s law. The mandatory nutrition declaration must include:

• An energy value, and;
• The amounts of fat, saturates, carbohydrate, sugars, protein and salt.

The nutrition declaration must express amounts of nutrients on a per 100 mL basis.

The nutrition declaration must be presented in a clear format and, where appropriate, in the order of presentation provided for in the table below.  If space permits, the information should be presented in a tabular format with numbers aligned. However, where space does not permit, the nutrition declaration may appear in a linear format.

In cases where the amount of one or more nutrients in a product is negligible, the information on those elements may be replaced by a statement such as “Contains negligible amounts of ...” and shall be indicated in close proximity to the nutrition declaration when present. Energy values must be expressed in kilojoules (kJ) and kilocalories (kcal) per 100 mL and are calculated using the following conversion factors:

We understand that energy values should be rounded to the nearest kL/kcal. In order to provide in a language-neutral way, you could do so using the symbol “E”, followed by information in kJ and kcal per 100mL.

There is various guidance on this topic, for typical wines, calculation of energy values can be based on measurements of alcohol and sugar, plus an additional generic value to account for glycerol/organic acids.

In relation to energy and nutrients, the declared values should, according to the individual case, be average values and based on:

• the manufacturer's analysis of the food
• a calculation from the known or actual average values of the ingredients used, or
• a calculation from generally established and accepted data. Informal guidance published by the European Commission indicates that:
• energy values should be rounded to the nearest kJ/kcal, and
• generally, the following tolerances and rounding are acceptable in the context of declaring nutrients in accordance with the EU’s laws.

Calculating nutritional levels

The EU has previously published informal guidance which indicates that the tolerance and rounding shown in the table below will be acceptable. You may observe that for many nutrients, there is a 20% tolerance applied, but there is some variation. Notwithstanding this tolerance, EU guidance on nutrition labelling for foods indicates that businesses should work in good faith to ensure the values are as accurate as possible. In particular, the values used should be averages across multiple batches and should not be extremes/outliers.

Accordingly, in the context of a ‘typical’ grape-based table wine:

• Fats may be specified as “0g” or "Negligible"
• Saturates may be specified as “0g” or "Negligible"
• Protein may be specified as “0g” or "Negligible"
• Salt may be calculated by multiplying the quantity of sodium by 2.5 and may be specified as “0g” or “0.01g” as applicable. *

* You could also give information per portion/serving information, but this would need to be accompanied by the quantity of the portion/serving and the number of portions/servings in the package. However, if you do so, remember the language obligations

(You could also give information per portion/serving information, but this would need to be accompanied by the quantity of the portion/serving and the number of portions/servings in the package. However, if you do so, remember the language obligations.)

We are waiting to hear from the EU that if there are only trace levels of fat, protein and salt in wines that analysis for these is not required. However, it's also trivial to include these nil or low values. The European industry is also aiming to publish some generally established and accepted data that winemakers may use, and to formally request that the EU set a standard value for polyols to allow simpler determination of average carbohydrates.

No marketing information and no user data collection/tracking

When using an e-label, the regulations require that the ingredients list shall not be displayed “with other information intended for sales or marketing purposes”. No user data can be collected or tracked. In terms of where the link is to, we understand that the EU considers a link to your usual marketing website will not be appropriate because it will contain commercial information relevant for marketing and/or sales. They also note that websites normally track information on users.

We therefore do not recommend using your own website; however, if you choose to do so you must ensure you comply with these restrictions. The e-label also must not include a link to your winery website or to an e-commerce website.

We are aware that some businesses already use QR codes to provide marketing information. This is not explicitly prohibited by the new requirements, but there may be some risk with this approach if you start to provide two QR codes. If you wish to include two codes despite this risk, we strongly recommend that you take steps to ensure that the additional code will not mislead or confuse consumers. For example, you should keep the QR codes physically separated on the label (so people won’t accidentally scan the marketing code when they are looking for the nutrition information)