Evidently it doesn’t matter what label necessities are to come back,
the wine trade has an academic process in its future.
By Jeff Siegel
Customers have particular opinions about what they need to see on wine diet and ingredient labels, however they don’t essentially suppose that wine wants to incorporate both.
That was one of many takeaways from a December 8, 2022, Wine Market Council (WMC) webinar, “What Customers Assume About Ingredient and Diet Labels on Wine.” The session detailed findings from a current examine, which surveyed 1,005 wine drinkers. Among the many revelations, about half of respondents didn’t notice wine didn’t carry both label, and solely one-third of that group stated wine ought to have them. In the meantime, solely about one-third stated ingredient labels have been extraordinarily or very influential in buying choices. Only one-quarter stated diet labels have been influential.
Regardless of these lukewarm responses, many shoppers wished to know the alcoholic content material of wine, whether or not wine had added sugars and different widespread components, and particulars about wine’s dietary content material. Many wine drinkers had lower than favorable opinions about widespread wine components, together with sulfur, tartaric acid and tannins, once they noticed such gadgets listed as components.
A raft of contradictions
In different phrases, there’s no clear consensus for the wine trade because it decides how to reply to the Treasury Division’s Tax and Commerce Bureau (TTB) strikes ahead with the method so as to add ingredient, dietary and allergen labels over the following yr. “We had a very sturdy opinion that we wanted to have a look at this,” WMC President Dale Stratton advised the webinar viewers. “What function did we have to play to get a consensus view for the trade?”
The examine, performed this fall, included half of what the council calls “core” wine drinkers (who drink wine greater than as soon as per week) and half “average” wine drinkers (lower than as soon as per week). Of these, 60 % have been ladies, one-half have been school graduates and the group was break up about evenly between three age teams: 21-39, 40-59, and 60+.
Justin McGuirk, senior counsel for the Wine Institute, recounted the tangled, 17-year historical past of wine label rulemaking in the US, noting that the TTB can be watching how the European Union decides to implement its label program over the following yr. The deadline for wine offered within the EU to incorporate labels — together with U.S. imports — is Dec. 8, 2023.
Jeannie Bremer, vice chairman of compliance and public coverage for The Wine Group, advised the viewers that among the many largest challenges the TTB will face is defining the distinction between a processing support (which doesn’t seem within the last product) and components (which do) — and whether or not some processing aids must be included in ingredient lists. The TTB would possibly take steering from the way in which the Meals and Drug Administration addresses the query for merchandise like fruit juice, which tends to lean towards components solely.
Bremer added that the TTB has determined to let producers use third-party instruments, corresponding to Wine Institute’s Diet Data Calculator, to find out dietary content material (if and when that turns into required). That would save wineries $200 per label for testing. 
Extra findings
In all of this, stated Christian Miller, the council’s director of analysis, there have been a wide range of responses from wine drinkers that appeared greater than somewhat shocking…in addition to some that weren’t shocking in any respect:
- Approval for utilizing QR codes and a web site to face in for ingredient or dietary labels on bottles break up throughout generational traces. Nearly half of these ages 21-39 stated the codes have been extraordinarily or very passable, whereas nearly two-thirds of these 60 and older stated the codes have been barely or by no means passable.
- Wine drinkers, although they have been conscious that wine sometimes had fewer components than laborious seltzers and RTD cocktails, did appear to fret that wine was increased in sugar than it truly is. About one-half thought wine was increased in sugar than beer and laborious seltzer. Not surprisingly, nearly two-thirds felt positively about seeing sugar ranges on a diet label. This was shocking, stated Miller, who added that he wasn’t fairly positive why wine drinkers thought wine contained a lot sugar.
- Additionally intriguing: About 70% of the respondents stated that they had not seen dietary labels, in comparison with about half for ingredient labels. As Miller, stated, since nearly no U.S. wine has presently carries these labels, the latter quantity appeared particularly excessive. When requested why wine didn’t have diet labels, one-third stated there have been completely different legal guidelines for wine. Fortunately, solely 10% stated wine producers have been making an attempt to cover one thing, and solely 6% stated it was as a result of wine was worse nutritionally.
Evidently it doesn’t matter what label necessities are to come back, the trade has an academic process in its future.
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Jeff Siegel
Jeff Siegel is an award-winning wine author, in addition to the co-founder and former president of Drink Native Wine, the primary locavore wine motion. He has taught wine, beer, spirits, and beverage administration at El Centro School and the Cordon Bleu in Dallas. He has written seven books, together with “The Wine Curmudgeon’s Information to Low cost Wine.”
