Complete Guide to the EU Wine Labelling Rules and Compliance Requirements in 2025

Update, 28 October 2026. The proposal described below became Regulation (EU) 2026/471 in February 2026, with different final terms and dates from those announced in 2025. For the current position, read what changed in 2026. This guide was also revised in October 2026 to remove claims that could not be verified.

Where EU wine labelling stood in 2025

By 2025 the big change was already behind the sector. Regulation (EU) 2021/2117 made the list of ingredients and the nutrition declaration mandatory for wine produced from 8 December 2023, and allowed most of that information to be provided through an e-label reached by a QR code. The year’s news was not a new obligation but a proposal: on 28 March 2025 the European Commission published its “wine package”, which touched labelling in three places. This guide covers both the rules in force and the proposal, as they stood in mid-2025.

What the rules require

Printed on the physical label

• Category designation (wine, sparkling wine, and so on), with the de-alcoholisation terms where relevant.
• Actual alcoholic strength by volume.
• Provenance.
• Bottler (or producer or vendor for sparkling wines), and importer for imported wines.
• Sugar content for sparkling wine categories.
• Allergens and intolerances, in particular sulphites, egg and milk products.
• Energy value, in kJ and kcal per 100 ml. This is the one part of the nutrition declaration that must stay on the label.
• Date of minimum durability for de-alcoholised products below 10 % vol.

Allowed on the e-label

• The full nutrition declaration (energy, fat, saturates, carbohydrate, sugars, protein, salt per 100 ml).
• The full list of ingredients, including additives and, where applicable, packaging gases.

The QR code must be identified on the label so that consumers know what it leads to. The Commission’s 2023 guidance notice asks for the word “Ingredients” next to the code, in the same field of vision as the other compulsory particulars.

Conditions on the e-label page

• Information must be available in a language easily understood by consumers in each country where the wine is sold.
• The page may show no sales or marketing content.
• The page may not collect or track personal data. In practice this means no analytics cookies, no advertising pixels and no consent banners.
• The link must stay valid for as long as the wine is on the market, which is why a hosted, updatable e-label beats a static PDF.

What the March 2025 proposal contained

The Commission’s wine package (COM(2025) 137) was a response to falling consumption and oversupply. Most of it concerned planting rights, crisis measures and promotion. Three labelling points mattered for producers:

1. New names for wines with reduced or no alcohol. The proposal suggested “alcohol-free” for wines at or below 0.5 % vol, “0,0 %” for wines at or below 0.05 % vol, and “alcohol-light” for wines reduced by at least 30 %, replacing the technical terms “de-alcoholised” and “partially de-alcoholised”. The final regulation kept the first two, changed the third to “reduced alcohol” and added a mandatory “produced by de-alcoholisation” statement. See the 2026 update for the adopted text and dates.
2. A harmonised way of identifying the QR code, possibly through a common pictogram instead of words, to end diverging national practices.
3. An exemption from the ingredient list and nutrition declaration for wine solely intended for export outside the EU.

None of these applied in 2025. They were adopted in February 2026 as Regulation (EU) 2026/471.

National developments to watch

• Ireland adopted health warnings on alcohol labels (cancer and liver disease warnings, pregnancy pictogram, calories, and a link to a health website) with a start date of 22 May 2026. In July 2025 the Irish government postponed the start to 2028.
• Italy requires environmental labelling of packaging (material codes and disposal instructions), which applies to wine packaging as well.
• The EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (EU) 2025/40 entered into force in February 2025. Its harmonised sorting labels depend on implementing acts and are expected from 2028.

How to calculate the energy value

Energy per 100 ml is the sum of alcohol (7 kcal/g), carbohydrates (4 kcal/g), organic acids (3 kcal/g) and polyols (2.4 kcal/g), using the conversion factors of Regulation (EU) 1169/2011. Our wine energy calculator does the arithmetic from ABV, residual sugar, acidity and polyols, and the same calculation runs inside Grapely when you build an e-label. The method is explained step by step in how to calculate the energy value of wine.

A practical checklist

1. Confirm the production date of each wine. Rules apply to wine produced from 8 December 2023.
2. Print energy value and allergens on the label; keep the full nutrition declaration and ingredient list on the e-label.
3. Put the word “Ingredients” next to the QR code.
4. Make sure the e-label page is free of marketing content and tracking, and available in the languages of your markets.
5. Keep the QR code dynamic so you can correct or update information without reprinting.
6. For de-alcoholised wines, plan for the new terms adopted in 2026.

Essential resources

• What changed in 2026 - The adopted text of Regulation (EU) 2026/471, verified article by article
• What is a wine e-label? - The fundamentals of wine e-labels and how they meet EU requirements
• What is a QR Code? - The technology that makes e-labels accessible to consumers
• How to Calculate the Energy Value of Wine - The most error-prone part of the nutrition declaration, explained
• Complete Guide to EU Wine Labeling Rules 2024 - The first year of application
• Grapely: the Douro startup making wine e-labels simple - Who we are and why we built this