At the beginning of April, the European Commission will adopt its proposals for the wine sector, including a series of terms to describe low-alcohol and alcohol-free wines.
According to a draft regulation obtained by Agence Europe (this text is in the consultation phase within the European Commission and is therefore subject to change), the Commission has adopted the main recommendations of the High Level Group on wine policy, which delivered its verdict last December (see EUROPE 13546/10).
At this stage, the package of measures includes a longer period of validity for replanting authorisations (8 years) in order to “give producers more time to explore the possibility to plant varieties which are better adapted to the market demand or to the changing climatic conditions or to use new vineyard management techniques”.
In addition, “to alleviate pressure on winegrowers”, administrative penalties for unused replanting authorisations (granted before 1 January 2025) would be abolished. They would continue to apply in the event that authorisations for new plantings were not used. The European Commission wishes to limit the application of the ‘de minimis’ regime to Member States with less than 10,000 hectares (this is still a provisional figure) of vineyards during three of the last five marketing years.
Market management. The new rules would give Member States the option of financing aid for distillation (voluntary or compulsory), grubbing-up or green harvesting (voluntary), the level of co-financing for which has yet to be specified (the draft mentions 20%). In addition, producer organisations would be given the opportunity to adopt market rules to improve winegrowers’ position in the chain. The Commission is also talking about extending authorisations for new plantings by three years.
Non-alcoholic wines. The 2021 common agricultural policy (CAP) rules introduced ‘de-alcoholised wine’ (up to 0.5% alcohol by volume, ABV) and ‘partially de-alcoholised wine’ (over 0.5% ABV) to the EU market. The Commission would authorise the use of well-known terms such as ‘zero alcohol’, ‘alcohol-free’ and ‘low-alcohol’.
According to the draft, the term ‘zero alcohol’ would refer to products with an alcohol content of no more than 0.05 or 0.1% (figures in square brackets).
The Commission also plans to amend the technical rules on dealcoholisation in order to facilitate the production of low-alcohol sparkling wines and to broaden the categories of wine products, in particular by authorising low-alcohol aromatised wines and the use of rosé for Glühwein, or mulled wine.
The Commission proposes standardising electronic labelling (QR code) by means of a delegated act “in order to minimise costs and administrative burden for operators”.
Finally, there are provisions to develop wine tourism by supporting producer groups managing PDOs and extending the duration of international promotion campaigns from 3 to 5 years.
Link to the project: https://aeur.eu/f/fs3 (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)