The new EU wine labelling rules: revolution or substantial continuity? Giuliano Lemme1 1. The previous regulatory framework; 2. Attempts to increase clarity of information: associations, certification - 3. The new Regulation: the problem of nutritional information - 4. Wine ingredients: an oxymoron? - 5. Reflections on market segmentation: wine increasingly an elite product? 1. The previous regulatory framework The subject of wine labelling, with its substantial differentiation from the rules in force for foodstuffs, has long been the subject of lively debate. I addressed this topic in an essay in 20212 . In particular, my previously expressed position3 was in the sense of a substantial informational insufficiency of European legislation, especially with regard to the indication of wine components. Indeed, I concluded, 'It is clear from the framework of legislation on wine labelling that not all significant details of single wines may be inferred from their label. It is also clear that individual producers may be able to inform consumers of the specific characteristics of their wines; however, such characteristics may or may not be useful to consumers'. In other words, the European legislation (in particular, Reg. 1169/2011) provided, in my opinion, a framework that was in some respects incoherent, as it omitted the obligation to indicate the ingredients of wine, thus creating an 1Full Professor of Economics Law, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia. 2G. LEMME, Wine labelling, in C.TORRES, F.J. MELGOSAARCOS, L. JÉGUZO (ed.), Wine Law, Estoril-Salamanca-Paris, 2021, pp. 171 ff. 3G. LEMME, Lo strabismo di Bacco. L'etichettatura dei prodotti vitivinicoli tra tutela del consumatore e reticenze legislative, in Riv. Quad. Dir. Ambiente, 2015, pp. 132 ff.
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