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Summaries of EU Legislation

Aromatised wine products

 

SUMMARY OF:

Regulation (EU) No 251/2014 on defining, describing, presenting, and labelling of aromatised wine products

WHAT IS THE AIM OF THE REGULATION?

  • It sets out the specifications of aromatised wine products.
  • It seeks to ensure high levels of consumer protection, product authenticity, market transparency and fair competition.
  • It applies to all aromatised wine products placed on the market in the European Union (EU), whether produced in EU Member States or non-EU countries, and produced in the EU for export.

KEY POINTS

  • This regulation lays down specific presentation and labelling rules for aromatised wine products, which apply in addition to other rules in Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 on food information to consumers (see summary).
  • Aromatised wine products include 3 main groups, comprising categories such as vermouth, sangria and glühwein:
    • aromatised wine*
    • aromatised wine-based drinks* and
    • aromatised wine-product cocktails*.
  • Aromatised wine products must be produced in accordance with the requirements, restrictions and descriptions laid down in Annexes I and II to this regulation.
  • A delegated act adopted by the European Commission, Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/670 supplements the regulation, setting out the authorised production processes for obtaining aromatised wine products.
  • The regulation originally included a legal framework for protecting geographical indications of aromatised wine products. However, amending Regulation (EU) 2021/2117, part of the common agricultural policy reform package for 2023–2027, simplified the system of geographical indications (GIs) for wines, removed the GI scheme for aromatised wine products from the scope of Regulation (EU) No 251/2014, and merged the scheme with that for agricultural products and foodstuffs under Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012, which already covers alcoholic beverages (see summary).
  • The regulation repealed the previous Regulation (EEC) No 1601/91.

FROM WHEN DOES THE REGULATION APPLY?

It has applied since 28 March 2015. However, Article 36(1) and (3) have applied since 27 March 2014, to ease the transition from the previous Regulation (EEC) No 1601/91.

BACKGROUND

For further information, see:

KEY TERMS

Aromatised wines. Drinks in which the grapevine products represent at least 75% of the total volume. They have an alcoholic strength of between 14.5% and 22% volume. An example is vermouth.
Aromatised wine-based drink. Drinks in which the grapevine products represent at least 50 % of the total volume. They have an alcoholic strength of between 4.5% and 14.5% volume. Examples include sangria and glühwein.
Aromatised wine-product cocktails. Drinks in which the grapevine products represent at least 50% of the total volume. They have an alcoholic strength of between 1.2% and 10% volume.

MAIN DOCUMENT

Regulation (EU) No 251/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2014 on the definition, description, presentation, labelling and the protection of geographical indications of aromatised wine products and repealing Council Regulation (EEC) No 1601/91 (OJ L 84, 20.3.2014, pp. 14–34).

Successive amendments to Regulation (EU) No 251/2014 have been incorporated in the original text. This consolidated version is of documentary value only.

RELATED DOCUMENTS

Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/670 of 31 January 2017 supplementing Regulation (EU) No 251/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards the authorised production processes for obtaining aromatised wine products (OJ L 97, 8.4.2017, pp. 5–8).

Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 November 2012 on quality schemes for agricultural products and foodstuffs (OJ L 343, 14.12.2012, pp. 1–29).

See consolidated version.

Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2011 on the provision of food information to consumers, amending Regulations (EC) No 1924/2006 and (EC) No 1925/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council, and repealing Commission Directive 87/250/EEC, Council Directive 90/496/EEC, Commission Directive 1999/10/EC, Directive 2000/13/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, Commission Directives 2002/67/EC and 2008/5/EC and Commission Regulation (EC) No 608/2004 (OJ L 304, 22.11.2011, pp. 18–63).

See consolidated version.

last update 16.06.2022

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