Federal government moves one step closer to ingredient labels for wine

First part of process could happen in next couple of weeks

We may be one step closer to ingredient labels on wine. I’ve been told that the Treasury’s Tax and Trade Bureau, which regulates alcohol, could publish an ”Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking” for the labels in the next couple of weeks. That would be the first step in a three-year or so process that would require alcohol producers to include ingredient labels.

The advanced notice is the “pre-rule” phase for ingredients, in which the TTB will ask for comments and consider what’s said before it moves to a “Notice of Rulemaking” for ingredients and asks for comments for that. My sources tell me that the TTB will almost certainly publish a notice of rulemaking and ask for comments, probably sometime in the second half of next year.

The notice of rulemaking is the final stage before ingredient labeling. If and when it happens, it would probably be another 18 to 24 months before the actual rule is published – so we likely won’t see ingredient labels before 2026.

That’s about a year later than the first estimates; chalk it up to the excitement that has kept the Treasury Department and White House busy over the last six months.

It’s still little more than an educated guess abut what ingredient labels will look like or will have to include. One possibility: Only ingredients that are in the finished product and not those that disappear during the winemaking process. For example, we don’t know if individual grape names will be required or if “grape juice concentrate” will be sufficient for products like Mega Purple.

There does seem to be momentum for allowing producers to use QR codes that link to a winery website. That way, producers won’t have to change the ingredient label each vintage; rather, they can change it on the website, which is cheaper and more efficient.

I wrote an overview of the entire process for this trade site (allowing for the change in timeline).