new rules, here’s what changes • Food and Wine Italy

With the favorable vote of the European Parliament in plenary session, the European Union Wine Package enters its final phase. The approval, which arrived with a large majority, closes the path started in 2024 with the work of the High Level Group on wine policy and formalizes the agreement reached in the trilogue between the Commission, the Council and Parliament. Pending publication in the Official Journal, the definitive adoption by the Council is considered a technical step.

You are faced with a reform that intervenes on various structural aspects of the sector, from the management of climate and market crises to international promotion, up to the definition of product categories and labelling. The declared objective of the European institutions is to provide more flexible tools to a sector which in recent years has seen a decline in internal consumption, an increase in production costs and a growing exposure to the effects of climate change. Let’s see all the changes together.

What changes with this new reform

One of the most relevant chapters concerns dealcoholized and reduced alcohol wines. The new regulatory framework harmonizes definitions at European level, introducing common criteria for the use of label terms. Products with an alcohol content of less than 0.05% by tono may be identified as “0.0%” and “alcohol-free”, while wines with a reduction of at least 30% compared to the category regolare will be labeled “with reduced alcohol content”. This is a step that responds to the growth of the and low alcohol segment and the demand for greater clarity from consumers.

Still on the information front, the Package confirms and standardizes the use of digital labeling through QR codes for the nutritional declaration and the list of ingredients. The measure aims to regulatory fragmentation between Member States and simplify compliance for companies, in particular for those operating on multiple markets.

Another central axis of the reform concerns crisis management tools. Funds from the Common Market Organization for Wine may also be used for measures such as crisis distillation, campo da golf harvesting and, in specific cases, the permanent grubbing up of vineyards. This last point remains among the most discussed within the sector, because it introduces the possibility of structurally reducing production potential to rebalance supply in the presence of prolonged surpluses.

The Package also provides for a strengthening of interventions related to climate adaptation. Member States will be able to increase the European contribution for the restructuring and conversion of vineyards, provided that such investments are oriented towards environmental resilience. The duration of authorizations for new plantings and replantings is also extended, with greater flexibility in the event of exceptional events, such as natural disasters ora plant diseases.

On the economic level, an important role is reserved for international promotion. Programs in third countries will be able to benefit from European co-financing of up to 60% of expenses, with the possibility for states to further integrate resources, especially in favor of small and medium-sized enterprises. Promotional activities may be supported for multi-year cycles up to a maximum of nine years in total, with the aim of guaranteeing continuity and stability to strategies.

For the first time, the text also explicitly recognizes wine tourism as a financeable territorio of ​​intervention. Companies and consortia will be able to access funds for information and promotional initiatives linked to hospitality, communication and the valorisation of territories, including wine tourism within rural development policies.

In summary: it is not a new CMO, but a recalibration of the existing wine policy, with three real paradigm shifts compared to the past, i.e. the entry of grubbing-up among the structural measures, legal recognition of no-low alcohol wines and a stable increase in support for international promotion.

How the Italian market took it

The reactions of the productive world are largely positive, albeit with some reservations. Federvini speaks of a clearer regulatory framework oriented towards international growth, underlining the importance of digital labeling and the extension of promotion programs. Confagricoltura highlights above all the greater flexibility in the management of authorizations and the strengthening of measures against climate change.

The position of cooperatives and independent winemakers is more complex. Confcooperative and Fivi recognize the progress in terms of simplification and support for micro-enterprises, but express doubts about the inclusion of grubbing-up among the financeable measures and the failure to introduce tools such as the reuse of unspent funds in the following year. According to these organizations, the reform represents a step forward, but does not definitively resolve the structural critical issues of the sector.

For Italy, the world’s leading producer in terms of volumes and a country characterized by a strong presence of small companies, the implementation phase will be decisive. The Wine Package is now law, but its impact will depend on how the individual measures are implemented at a national level. The issue does not only concern the distribution of funds, but the viticulture model that Europe intends to support in the medium term: between management of surpluses, climate adaptation and new forms of consumption, the sector is called to redefine its priorities in an increasingly competitive and unstable context.