Great Britain: New wine labelling rules

 

In Great Britain, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has published the draft Wine (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2024. It refers to the use of the term „ice wine” on the label.

The law would introduce a prohibition on the marketing of ice wine unless the definitions, detailed in the Regulations, are met. No person may market a product using a term mentioned below unless the product is a wine made exclusively from grapes naturally frozen on the vine.

(a) ‘ice wine’;

(b) ‘icewine’;

(c) ‘ice-wine’;

(d) a term similar to a term mentioned in point (a), (b) or (c);

(e) a term having the same meaning as a term mentioned in point (a), (b) or (c) in a language other than English;

(f) a term having a similar meaning to a term mentioned in point (a), (b) or (c) in a language other than English.

This legislation will also amend the law so that the oenological practices that may be used to make wine will align with relevant international standards (the International Code of Oenological Practices and the International Oenological Codex of the International Organisation of Vine and Wine) taking into account changes in wine-making practices endorsed by the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV).

The amendment has the following rationale:

The law that applies in Great Britain does not contain an explicit constraint on the use of the term ‘ice wine’. The measures being proposed would introduce this constraint, prohibiting the use of that and similar expressions should the specified criteria not be met. These measures are being introduced to ensure products placed on the market in GB as ice wine meet the production requirements for ice wines and to prevent consumers from being misled.

To find out more about wine regulation, please contact the Product Compliance Institute directly.