Vitisphere: ""Labels had to be reprinted as a matter of urgency", ingredient and calorie labelling is a must for the 2024 vintage".

François de L'Espinay, Château de Nitray, Athée-sur-Cher, Indre-et-Loire. To indicate calories and ingredients "I'm leaning towards the list. I don't have much to list: grapes, settling enzymes in some cases, and sulfites. And that immediately shows that we have additive-free wines," he remarks. - photo credit: DR

Ampelidae had a stressful autumn before bottling the primeur 2024. "We realized that we'd forgotten to mention "ingredients and nutritional value" on top of the QR-code that links to this information! We hadn't seen this obligation coming. We had to reprint the labels as a matter of urgency", reports Gilles de Bollardière, technical director of this 110-hectare estate in Jaunay-Marigny, Vienne. By flashing this QR-code, consumers will see a photo of the bottle, a list of ingredients and additives, and the calorific value of the wine.

In the Drôme region, Matthieu Rozel has not been as proactive. The manager of Domaine Rozel, a 45-hectare estate in Valaurie, admits to having taken advantage of the one-year postponement of the regulations to " inflate the label order a little ". As he is authorized to use his stock until it runs out, this gives him time to discuss the final details of nutritional labeling with his printer. Things are pretty much set: " As our banner labels already include a QR-code linking to our website, I'm thinking of simply replacing it with the regulatory QR-code. "

In the Beaujolais region, Arnaud Briday has opted for the same solution on the labels of his primeur wines, which are also banded. " We placed the QR-code in the vertical strip on one side of the label ", explains the manager of Domaine des Chers, 11.5 ha in Juliénas. His 2024 Beaujolais Futures are already labelled in this way. For his cuvées parcellaires, however, he's going about things differently: " I want to leave the visual intact, as the labels for these cuvées are illustrated by artists. So the QR-code will be on a back label that I'll print out using my printer. As I make them myself, I can easily adapt them to other formats, such as magnums.

Arnaud Briday is fortunate in his computer skills. He has made arrangements with the developer of his website: " I'm going to create cards listing the calorific value of my cuvées and the list of their additives and ingredients, with the associated URLs and QR-codes. These sheets will be hosted on my site, in hidden pages. " The winemaker has already done this for his Beaujolais Futures. " It's free, whereas Inter Beaujolais would charge me around €150 a year to do it," he remarks.

A computer engineer in a previous life, François de L'Espinay would also like to manage without the help of a service provider. However, this winegrower, manager of Château de Nitray, an 11-hectare estate in Athée-sur-Cher in the Loire Valley, is still considering the best way to address his consumers: QR codes or a list on the label? I'm leaning towards the list. I don't have much to indicate: the grapes, the settling enzymes in certain cases, and the sulfites. And that immediately shows that we have additive-free wines ," he remarks.

For his Beaujolais Futur, Arnaud Briday has already put the nutritional information online: " grapes, metatartaric acid, sulfites and the caloric value provided by the analysis ". From his point of view, this list shows that his wine contains no ingredients that a consumer might find suspect.

Lucas Pauvif is less confident. " This year, I had to chaptalize. And we often use gum arabic and metatartaric acid. The term acid may not be well received ", fears the manager of Maison Pauvif, 42 ha in Teuillac, Côtes de Bourg. So, in future, he plans to stabilize his wines in the cold. But he's waiting to see how consumers react before deciding.

Always cautious, he has opted for the QR-code, rather than a list on labels: "It' s better not to put the composition of a wine under the consumer's nose ". For the implementation of the new obligation, he will rely on the Fédération des grands vins de Bordeaux: " I don't want to add yet another interlocutor, as we already have enough. What ' s more, I believe this service is included in my membership dues at no extra cost.

Matthieu Rozel also relies on a long-standing partner, entrusting Isavigne, with whom he has worked for twenty-five years, with his compliance project. He found the handling simple and reassuring. " I still have a dozen or so cuvées and several batches during the year. I'll have to generate as many lists and QR-codes ," he realizes. So, we might as well not bother with a new service provider.

" We had the privilege of escaping the obligation to mention ingredients. Now we're going to expose ourselves. Is that a problem? I'm not sure, because at least there'll be no more debate about what's in the wine," says Gilles de Bollardière, Technical Director of Ampelidae in the Loire Valley. For Matthieu Rozel, manager of Domaine Rozel, in the Drôme region, the subject is of little interest to consumers: " They're interested in our environmental approach in the vineyards. They're not interested in whether there's 2% of this or that in the wine. They know that what's dangerous is the alcohol. But one thing is bothering Gilles de Bollardière. " We don't know what the degree of tolerance will be in the event of a deviation from the nutritional declaration. Will an analysis of the alcohol content and sugar content have to be carried out each time the wine is bottled? If so, it's expensive! François de L'Espinay, manager of Château de Nitray, in the Loire Valley, also admits to fearing " sanctions from the DGCCRF, in the event of an honest error in calorie calculation. It's a stress we didn't need ".

Read the article on www.vitisphere.com

By Hélène de Montaignac

Published November 12, 2024