WINE LABELLING 181 certification logo on the label. This certainly provides additional information that may be useful to the most expert consumer. Perhaps the most controversial issue for additional particulars is the notorious controversy regarding “natural” wines45. The term has been consistently deemed as “misleading”46 since there is no definition of what makes a wine natural (as opposed to “unnatural”?). On the one hand, although many associations of producers roughly define the characteristics of natural wine, there is no consensus apart from some common principles47. On the other, a decisive innovation has recently been approved by the INAO (Institut National de l’Origine et de la Qualité), the French body for wine denominations, which has accepted the “vin methode naturel” charter of the Syndicat de Defense des Vins Nature48. Given the importance and prestige of the INAO and French wine, this could open the ground for common recognition of similar terms by the EU or single Member States49. One difficulty for producers willing to provide to consumers with additional information on their wines is the limited space available on labels. A solution to this problem (already being implemented by some producers) is to use a QR code or blockchain, which, coupled with specific apps, give consumers the ability to access virtually limitless information on a wine50. 45 P. A. GONZALES, Natural Wines: Do Consumers Know What it Is, and how Natural it Really Is?, in Journal of Cleaner Production, 2020. 46 In 2012, a wine bar in Rome had an entire shelf of bottles seized by inspectors of the Ministry for Agriculture because of the indication “vini naturali” (natural wines) above it. Moreover, a recent notorious case involved Piedmont producer, Borgogno (owned by Oscar Farinetti and the owner of Eataly), being sanctioned by the Italian antitrust authority AGCM for using “vino libero” (free wine) on labels, misleading consumers into believing that the wine was free from sulphites. Borgogno was fined and forced to correct the claim to be “free from at least 40% of sulphites allowed by law” (AGCM, 25980/2016). 47 In general, “natural wines” are those in which no pesticides or chemicals are used in the vineyard except for sulphur and copper, and no additives (including non-indigenous yeasts) are used except for sulphur dioxide in the cellar. Some producers even deny that a wine with added sulphur may be called “natural”. 48 Source: https://www.decanter.com/wine-news/natural-wine-receives-formal-recognition-vin-methodenature-435358/. 49 The charter of methode naturel requires that: all grapes come from organic farming; harvest is manual; only indigenous yeasts are used; no additives are used; no voluntary modification of grapes constitution is applied; no “brutal” (sic) physical practices are used; a maximum of 30 mg/l of sulphur may be added before bottling (but if the producer decides to add even this minimal quantity, this must show on the label). This last requirement is certainly the strictest and even surpasses the already rigid requirements of biodynamic wines. 50 Blockchain can also be used for bottle traceability; see K. BISWAS, V. MUTHUKKUMARASAMY & W. LUM TAM, Blockchain Based Wine Supply Chain Traceability System, in ACU Faculty of Law and Business Publications, 2017. The late Gianfranco Soldera informed this author that he was studying the possibility to include information such as temperature and humidity ranges during transport through a blockchain-based app on his bottles.
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