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

CHAPTER I

SCOPE AND DEFINITIONS

Article 1

Subject matter and scope

Article 2

Definitions

For the purpose of this Regulation, the following definitions apply:

(1) ‘sales denomination’ means the name of any of the aromatised wine products laid down in this Regulation;

(2) ‘description’ means the list of the specific characteristics of an aromatised wine product.

CHAPTER II

DEFINITION, DESCRIPTION, PRESENTATION AND LABELLING OF AROMATISED WINE PRODUCTS

Article 3

Definition and classification of aromatised wine products

Aromatised wine products are products obtained from products of the wine sector as referred to in Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 that have been flavoured. They are classified into the following categories:

(a) aromatised wines;

(b) aromatised wine-based drinks;

(c) aromatised wine-product cocktails.

Aromatised wine is a drink:

(a) obtained from one or more of the grapevine products defined in point 5 of Part IV of Annex II and in points 1 and 3 to 9 of Part II of Annex VII to Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013, with the exception of ‘Retsina’ wine;

(b) in which the grapevine products referred to in point (a) represent at least 75 % of the total volume;

(c) to which alcohol may have been added;

(d) to which colours may have been added;

(e) to which grape must, partially fermented grape must or both may have been added;

(f) which may have been sweetened;

(g) which has an actual alcoholic strength by volume of not less than 14,5 % vol. and less than 22 % vol. and a total alcoholic strength by volume of not less than 17,5 % vol.

Aromatised wine-based drink is a drink:

(a) obtained from one or more of the grapevine products defined in points 1, 2 and 4 to 9 of Part II of Annex VII to Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013, with the exception of wines produced with the addition of alcohol and ‘Retsina’ wine;

(b) in which the grapevine products referred to in point (a) represent at least 50 % of the total volume;

(c) to which no alcohol has been added, except where Annex II provides otherwise;

(d) to which colours may have been added;

(e) to which grape must, partially fermented grape must or both may have been added;

(f) which may have been sweetened;

(g) which has an actual alcoholic strength by volume of not less than 4,5 % vol. and less than 14,5 % vol.

Aromatised wine-product cocktail is a drink:

(a) obtained from one or more of the grapevine products defined in points 1, 2 and 4 to 11 of Part II of Annex VII to Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013, with the exception of wines produced with the addition of alcohol and ‘Retsina’ wine;

(b) in which the grapevine products referred to in point (a) represent at least 50 % of the total volume;

(c) to which no alcohol has been added;

(d) to which colours may have been added;

(e) which may have been sweetened;

(f) which has an actual alcoholic strength by volume of more than 1,2 % vol. and less than 10 % vol.

Article 4

Production processes and methods of analysis for aromatised wine products

In establishing the authorised production processes referred to in the first subparagraph, the Commission shall take into account the production processes recommended and published by the OIV.

Pending the adoption of such methods by the Commission, the methods to be used shall be those allowed by the Member State concerned.

Article 5

Sales denominations

Article 6

Additional particulars to the sales denominations

The sales denominations referred to in Article 5 may also be supplemented by the following particulars concerning the sugar content of the aromatised wine product:

(a) ‘extra-dry’ : in the case of products with a sugar content of less than 30 grams per litre and, for the category of aromatised wines and by way of derogation from Article 3(2)(g), a minimum total alcoholic strength by volume of 15 % vol.;

(b) ‘dry’ : in the case of products with a sugar content of less than 50 grams per litre and, for the category of aromatised wines and by way of derogation from Article 3(2)(g), a minimum total alcoholic strength by volume of 16 % vol.;

(c) ‘semi-dry’ : in the case of products with a sugar content of between 50 and less than 90 grams per litre;

(d) ‘semi-sweet’ : in the case of products with a sugar content of between 90 and less than 130 grams per litre;

(e) ‘sweet’ : in the case of products with a sugar content of 130 grams per litre or more.

The sugar content indicated in points (a) to (e) of the first subparagraph is expressed as invert sugar.

The particulars ‘semi-sweet’ and ‘sweet’ may be accompanied by an indication of the sugar content, expressed in grams of invert sugar per litre.

Article 6a

Nutrition declaration and ingredients list

The labelling of aromatised wine products marketed in the Union shall contain the following mandatory particulars:

(a) the nutrition declaration pursuant to Article 9(1), point (l), of Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011; and

(b) the list of ingredients pursuant to Article 9(1), point (b), of Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011.

By way of derogation from paragraph 1, point (b), the list of ingredients may be provided by electronic means identified on the package or on a label attached thereto. In such cases, the following requirements apply:

(a) no user data shall be collected or tracked;

(b) the list of ingredients shall not be displayed with other information intended for sales or marketing purposes; and

(c) the indication of the particulars referred to in Article 9(1), point (c), of Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 shall appear directly on the package or on a label attached thereto.

The indication referred to in the first subparagraph, point (c), of this paragraph shall comprise the word “contains” followed by the name of the substance or product as listed in Annex II to Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011.

Article 7

Indication of provenance

Where the provenance of aromatised wine products is indicated, it shall correspond to the place where the aromatised wine product is produced. The provenance shall be indicated with the words ‘produced in (…)’, or expressed in equivalent terms, supplemented by the name of the corresponding Member State or third country.

Article 8

Use of language in the presentation and labelling of aromatised wine products

Additional particulars provided for in this Regulation shall, where expressed in words, appear in at least one of the official languages of the Union.

Where the name of a geographical indication of aromatised wine products protected under Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 is written in a non-Latin alphabet, it may also appear in one or more of the official languages of the Union.

CHAPTER IV

GENERAL, TRANSITIONAL AND FINAL PROVISIONS

Article 31

Checks and verification of aromatised wine products

Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 34(2).

Article 32

Exchange of information

In order to make the notifications referred to in paragraph 1 fast, efficient, accurate, and cost effective, the Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 33 to lay down:

(a) the nature and type of the information to be notified;

(b) the methods of notification;

(c) the rules related to the access rights to the information or information systems made available;

(d) the conditions and means of publication of the information.

The Commission shall, by means of implementing acts, adopt:

(a) rules on providing the information necessary for the application of this Article;

(b) arrangements for the management of the information to be notified, as well as rules on content, form, timing, frequency and deadlines of the notifications;

(c) arrangements for transmitting or making information and documents available to the Member States, the competent authorities in third countries, or the public.

Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 34(2).

Article 33

Exercise of the delegation

Article 34

Committee procedure

In the case of implementing acts referred to in the first subparagraph of Article 4(3) and Article 29(1)(b), where the Committee delivers no opinion, the Commission shall not adopt the draft implementing act and the third subparagraph of Article 5(4) of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 shall apply.

Article 35

Repeal

Regulation (EEC) No 1601/91 is hereby repealed as from 28 March 2015.

References made to the repealed Regulation shall be construed as references to this Regulation and shall be read in accordance with the correlation table set out in Annex III to this Regulation.

Article 36

Transitional measures

Article 37

Entry into force

This Regulation shall enter into force on the seventh day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

It shall apply from 28 March 2015. However, Article 36(1) and (3) shall apply from 27 March 2014.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

ANNEX I

TECHNICAL DEFINITIONS, REQUIREMENTS AND RESTRICTIONS

(1) Flavouring

(a) The following products are authorised for the flavouring of aromatised wines: (i) natural flavouring substances and/or flavouring preparations as defined in Article 3(2)(c) and (d) of Regulation (EC) No 1334/2008; (ii) flavourings as defined in Article 3(2)(a) of Regulation (EC) No 1334/2008, which: — are identical to vanillin, — smell and/or taste of almonds, — smell and/or taste of apricots, — smell and/or taste of eggs; and (iii) aromatic herbs and/or spices and/or flavouring foodstuffs; and (iv) spirit drinks in a quantity not exceeding 1 % of the overall volume.

(b) The following products are authorised for the flavouring of aromatised wine-based drinks and aromatised wine-product cocktails: (i) flavouring substances and/or flavouring preparations as defined in Article 3(2)(b) and (d) of Regulation (EC) No 1334/2008; and (ii) aromatic herbs and/or spices and/or flavouring foodstuffs.

Addition of such substances confers on the final product organoleptic characteristics other than those of wine.

(2) Sweetening

The following products are authorised for the sweetening of aromatised wine products:

(a) semi-white sugar, white sugar, extra-white sugar, dextrose, fructose, glucose syrup, sugar solution, invert sugar solution, invert sugar syrup, as defined in Council Directive 2001/111/EC (¹);

(b) grape must, concentrated grape must and rectified concentrated grape must, as defined in points 10, 13 and 14 of Part II of Annex VII to Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013;

(c) burned sugar, which is the product obtained exclusively from the controlled heating of sucrose without bases, mineral acids or other chemical additives;

(d) honey as defined in Council Directive 2001/110/EC (²);

(e) carob syrup;

(f) any other natural carbohydrate substances having a similar effect to those products.

(3) Addition of alcohol

The following products are authorised for the preparation of some aromatised wines and, some aromatised wine-based drinks:

(a) ethyl alcohol of agricultural origin, as defined in Annex I, point 1, to Regulation (EC) No 110/2008, including viticultural origin;

(b) wine alcohol or dried grape alcohol;

(c) wine distillate or dried grape distillate;

(d) distillate of agricultural origin, as defined in Annex I, point 2, to Regulation (EC) No 110/2008;

(e) wine spirit, as defined in Annex II, point 4, to Regulation (EC) No 110/2008;

(f) grape-marc spirit, as defined in Annex II, point 6, to Regulation (EC) No 110/2008;

(g) spirit drinks distilled from fermented dried grapes.

The ethyl alcohol used to dilute or dissolve colorants, flavourings or any other authorised additives used in the preparation of aromatised wine products must be of agricultural origin and must be used in the dose strictly necessary and is not considered as addition of alcohol for the purpose of production of an aromatised wine product.

(4) Additives and colouring

The rules on food additives, including colours, laid down in Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008 apply to aromatised wine products.

(5) Addition of water

For the preparation of aromatised wine products, the addition of water is authorised provided that it is used in the dose necessary:

— to prepare flavouring essence,

— to dissolve colorants and sweeteners,

— to adjust the final composition of the product.

The quality of the water added has to be in conformity with Directive 2009/54/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (³) and Council Directive 98/83/EC (⁴), and it should not change the nature of the product.

This water may be distilled, demineralised, permuted or softened.

(6) For the preparation of aromatised wine products, the addition of carbon dioxide is authorised.

(7) ‘Alcoholic strength by volume’ means the ratio of the volume of pure alcohol contained in the product in question at a temperature of 20 °C to the total volume of that product at the same temperature. ‘Actual alcoholic strength by volume’ means the number of volumes of pure alcohol contained at a temperature of 20 °C in 100 volumes of the product at that temperature. ‘Potential alcoholic strength by volume’ means the number of volumes of pure alcohol at a temperature of 20 °C capable of being produced by total fermentation of the sugars contained in 100 volumes of the product at the same temperature. ‘Total alcoholic strength by volume’ means the sum of the actual and potential alcoholic strengths by volume.

ANNEX II

SALES DENOMINATIONS AND DESCRIPTIONS OF AROMATISED WINE PRODUCTS

A. SALES DENOMINATIONS AND DESCRIPTIONS OF AROMATISED WINES

Products complying with the definition set out in Article 3(2).

Aromatised wine to which alcohol may have been added.

The use of the term ‘aperitif’ in this connection is without prejudice to its use to define products which do not fall within the scope of this Regulation.

Aromatised wine:

— to which alcohol may have been added; and

— whose characteristic taste has been obtained by the use of appropriate substances of Artemisia species.

Aromatised wine with a characteristic bitter flavour to which alcohol has been added.

The sales denomination ‘bitter aromatised wine’ is followed by the name of the main bitter-flavouring substance.

The sales denomination ‘bitter aromatised wine’ may be supplemented or replaced by the following terms:

— ‘Quinquina wine’, whose main flavouring is natural quinine flavouring,

— ‘ Bitter vino ’, whose main flavouring is natural gentian flavouring and which has been coloured with authorised yellow and/or red colour; the use of the word ‘bitter’ in this connection is without prejudice to its use to define products which do not fall within the scope of this Regulation,

— ‘ Americano ’, where the flavouring is due to the presence of natural flavouring substances derived from wormwood and gentian and which has been coloured with authorised yellow and/or red colours.

Aromatised wine:

— to which alcohol has been added,

— to which good-quality egg yolk or extracts thereof have been added,

— which has a sugar content expressed in terms of invert sugar of more than 200 grams, and

— in the preparation of which the minimum quantity of egg yolk used in the mixture is 10 grams per litre.

The sales denomination ‘egg-based aromatised wine’ may be accompanied by the term ‘ cremovo ’ where such product contains wine of the protected designation of origin ‘Marsala’ in a proportion of not less than 80 %.

The sales denomination ‘egg-based aromatised wine’ may be accompanied by the term ‘ cremovo zabaione ’, where such product contains wine of the protected designation of origin ‘Marsala’ in a proportion of not less than 80 % and has an egg yolk content of not less than 60 grams per litre.

An aromatised wine:

— to which alcohol has been added, and

— whose characteristic taste has been obtained by the use of cloves and/or cinnamon.

B. SALES DENOMINATIONS AND DESCRIPTIONS OF AROMATISED WINE BASED DRINKS

Products complying with the definition set out in Article 3(3).

Aromatised wine-based drink

— to which alcohol has been added,

— which has actual alcoholic strength by volume not less than 7 % vol.,

— which has been sweetened,

— which is obtained from white wine,

— to which dried grape distillate has been added, and

— which has been flavoured exclusively by cardamom extract;

or

— to which alcohol has been added,

— which has actual alcoholic strength by volume not less than 7 % vol.,

— which has been sweetened,

— which is obtained from red wine, and

— to which flavouring preparations obtained exclusively from spices, ginseng, nuts, citrus fruit essences and aromatic herbs, have been added.

Aromatised wine-based drink

— which is obtained from wine,

— which is aromatised with the addition of natural citrus-fruit extracts or essences, with or without the juice of such fruit,

— to which spices may have been added,

— to which carbon dioxide may have been added,

— which has not been coloured,

— which have an actual alcoholic strength by volume of not less than 4,5 % vol., and less than 12 % vol., and

— which may contain solid particles of citrus-fruit pulp or peel and its colour must come exclusively from the raw materials used.

‘ Sangría ’ or ‘ Sangria ’ may be used as a sales denomination only when the product is produced in Spain or Portugal. When the product is produced in other Member States, ‘ Sangría ’ or ‘ Sangria ’ may only be used to supplement the sales denomination ‘aromatised wine-based drink’, provided that it is accompanied by the words: ‘produced in …’, followed by the name of the Member State of production or of a more restricted region.

Aromatised wine-based drink, which is obtained from white wine under the same conditions as for Sangría/Sangria.

‘ Clarea ’ may be used as a sales denomination only when the product is produced in Spain. When the product is produced in other Member States, ‘ Clarea ’ may only be used to supplement the sales denomination ‘aromatised wine-based drink’, provided that it is accompanied by the words: ‘produced in …’, followed by the name of the Member State of production or of a more restricted region.