• by Steve Ellwanger , August 26, 2022

The federal government has begun a process that could lead to requiring wine labels to list ingredients, similar to labels on foods and beverages.

This requirement has been considered on and off for the past two decades—but all that’s emerged thus far is a voluntary rule issued in 2013.

The U.S. Treasury Department’s Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB)—which regulates alcohol regulation—has issued an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on wine ingredient labeling, as first reported by Wine Industry Advisor.

It’s tied to a 2021 executive order from the Biden Administration regarding competition and other factors in the beer, wine and spirits markets.

“Regulatory proposals that could serve public health and foster competition by providing information to consumers, such as mandatory allergen, nutrition and ingredient labeling proposals have not been implemented,” states a Treasury Department report produced in response to the order.

Among the report’s recommendations are that the TTB should reexamine its labeling and other practices “to prioritize labeling rules that protect consumers and public health while reducing or eliminating any regulatory requirements that create compliance costs and can be barriers to new entrants or burdens to small businesses.”

The report is based on input from “government agencies, industry participants, trade associations, public interest groups and concerned citizens.”

Currently, a government-mandated warning label on wines states that pregnant women should not drink alcoholic beverages “because of the risk of birth defects” and that consumption of alcoholic beverages “impairs your ability to drive a car or operate machinery and may cause health problems.”

Amanda Greenbaum, a certified sommelier and the proprietor of California-based AJA Vineyards, says she has no issue with people wanting to know what’s in the wine they’re drinking.

“My concern is that if we put nutritional labels on the backs of wine bottles, people will no longer look at the wine as art and rather just look at the calories and words like ‘sulfites’ that are triggering,” Greenbaum tells Marketing Daily. 

“There’s significantly more sulfites in dried fruit and French fries than an entire bottle of red wine.&rdquo