EU moves to modernise wine regulations

The Council of the European Union and the European Parliament have reached a provisional agreement on a modernised policy framework for the EU wine sector, aimed at strengthening competitiveness, resilience and long-term growth. The updated package covers production management, climate adaptation, labelling simplification, planting rules and wine tourism, while also enabling innovation and new product development.

Under the new measures, member states will have the option to support actions such as grubbing up surplus vines to better align production with market demand, while the existing end date for the planting rights scheme will be removed and replaced with a 10-year review cycle. Climate-related investments will receive a significant boost, with EU support potentially rising to 80 percent of eligible costs to accelerate mitigation and adaptation efforts.

Labelling rules will be simplified and harmonised across the bloc, reducing administrative load and improving consumer access to information through digital labels and pictograms. The framework also expands support for wine tourism projects intended to generate rural economic growth.

The agreement introduces clarified definitions for emerging product categories. While the term ‘alcohol-free’ will apply to wines below 0.5 percent ABV, ‘0.0 percent’ will be reserved for products below 0.05 percent ABV. Wines above 0.5 percent ABV but at least 30 percent lower in strength than their standard counterparts will carry the designation ‘reduced-alcohol’, replacing the previously suggested term ‘alcohol-light’.