Wine Law

184 WINE LAW producers wisely use additional information on labels to provide specific details that may be appealing to them. Conversely, non-expert consumers will be more likely to believe that some of the information shown on a label (e.g. denomination of origin, production method, suggested food pairing) is a significant indicator of quality level. Although, the below-average knowledgeable consumer is theoretically the specific target of informative protection provided for by the legislator, the rules set forth in Regulations 33/2019 and 1308/2013 are only partially satisfactory in providing the level of insight and awareness, which is the ultimate purpose of a conscious and virtuous legislator. 5. A POSSIBLE SOLUTION? As we are submitting this essay for print, the European Parliament has proposed amendments to the new Regulation on agricultural Market Common Organization being discussed with the Commission. According to the European Parliament proposal, article 119 of Regulation 1308/2013 would include among compulsory particulars for wine labels, inter alia, “the nutrition declaration, the content of which may be limited to the energy value only; and the list of ingredients”. As for the list of the ingredients, the proposed amendment specifies that this may be provided “by other means than on the label affixed to the bottle or to any other type of container, provided that a clear and direct link is indicated on the label”, and that “it may not be displayed together with other information intended for sales or marketing purposes”. Should the final version of the Regulation include these amendments, it would indeed be a revolution not only for consumers of wine but for consumers in general, as it would give a possibly extensive insight on one of the most complex products Nature and Mankind have created. We are quite positive that including nutritional values (more specifically, energy values) on labels would cause considerable concern among producers, as we have stressed above. This would probably have an impact on the consumption of lesser quality wines, as connoisseurs are more concerned with quality and are probably already aware of the impact of wine on their dietary routine. On the other end, the indication of a complete list of ingredients (which, in our opinion, would probably imply the use of technologies like blockchain and/or QR codes) would force producers to face a rather formidable task. For instance, would they have to disclose that they chaptalise their wines, and list

RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTE4NzM5Nw==