Monday, May 9, 2011

New Stricter Rules for Labeling Wine Proposed by U.S. Treasury Department Agency, The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau: How About Green Wine?

The long arm of the law is everywhere, also in wine-growing.

Michael Doyle McClatchy/Chicago Tribune News in Stricter wine labeling rules? Put a cork in it! reports that the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, an agency of the Treasury Department that regulates wine labeling, is considering tighter rules for wine label and wine label definitions.

Some U.S. vintners would welcome more exact limitations on who can use terms such as "estate" on their wine labels. The term "estate bottled" -- for a wine from an estate that controls the entire process from growing grapes to bottling the wine -- is quite strictly defined, whereas the term "estate" itself is not legally defined, permitting such labels as "estate grown", which may be misleading.

There are also differences between wine labeling depending on country.

For example, what about sulfites in wine? what about wine made from organic grapes?

Read Heather Stober Fleming of Grape Expectations at SouthCoastToday.com in
There's white wine, red wine, and now, 'green' wine.