Company fined over ‘skinny’ Prosecco

Yorkshire-based company Prosecco 1754 has been fined for selling “skinny” versions of the Italian sparkling wine that contained too much sugar to meet the legal definition of a low-calorie drink.

Prosecco 1754, which is registered in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, was established in 2010 both in bottle and in kegs. Because of the latter, the company has to refer to its on-tap product as a “sparkling wine”, as the Consorzio Tutela Prosecco DOC has strict regulations concerning this.

However, it is consternation surrounding calories that has put Prosecco 1754 in the spotlight.

The issue goes back to 2019, when West Yorkshire Trading Standards first investigated the company over its claim that it was offering bottles of low-calorie Prosecco. Analysis of samples of the fizz found that the energy content of the ‘skinny’ Prosecco (both white and rosé) was only 6.6% less than that of its ‘standard’ Prosecco. In order to be legally deemed a low-calorie option, it would have to have been at least 30% lower. Subsequent testing in 2021 and 2022 yielded the same results.

Prosecco 1754 director Marcus Hilton admitted two counts of a breach of the Food Safety Act when appearing at Leeds Crown Court last week – he had previously admitted said breaches back in July 2022, describing them as an “oversight”.

“The Prosecco has got too much sugar in it, more than it should have,” commented judge Thomas Bayliss, before fining Hilton £1,400 plus £2,000 in court costs.

Prosecco 1754 was fined £2,700 plus £2,000 in court costs – it is understood that the company will “cease to exist” by December of this year.

David Strover, head of Trading Standards, said: “This business marketed and sold these wines throughout the UK via their website, with an incredibly misleading ‘skinny’ label, during the Covid lock down when online sales of food and drink were booming. We repeatedly advised this business to amend its labelling, but they were intransigent and failed to act on our advice. Priced at £13.99 each, which is considerably more than the normal selling price of standard supermarket Prosecco.”

Sweetness scale

According to the Consorzio Tutela Prosecco DOC, a Dry Prosecco DOC Spumante has to have between 17 and 32 grams of sugar per litre, an Extra Dry between 12 and 17g/l, below 12g/l to be Brut, and sub-6g/l to fall into the Extra Brut category. Brut Nature must have fewer than 3g/l.

While the exact sugar levels in Prosecco 1754’s products have not been disclosed, the issue was that the ‘skinny’ product was too close in sweetness to the regular one – an old Amazon listing of the Skinny Prosecco 1754 claims that a 125ml glass of the wine contained 63 calories.

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