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Treasury to introduce calorie labelling
Treasury Wine Estates has become the first major wine producer to commit to including calorie information on all of its wines.
In a voluntary move claimed to be a first for the global wine industry, Treasury has said it would provide calorie information across its entire portfolio of bottled wine to help consumers to make more informed choices.
Earlier this year Diageo became the first drinks producer to commit to calorie labelling, confirming it would be adding nutritional information to all of its products, which comprise largely spirits, as soon as possible. TWE however is the first wine producer to make a similar promise regarding calorie information (although Félix Solís Avantis was the first in Spain to put nutritional information on its wines sold domestically).
The producer has said it would begin including calorie information on its wine brands in Europe, where it said there was “heightened consumer interest” in receiving such information.
Earlier this year Members of the European Parliament backed the introduction of a new law that would compel all drinks producers to include the calorie content of products on labels.
“We recognise that consumers are increasingly interested in accessing the facts on calorie content to help them make more informed choices on alcohol consumption,” said TWE general manager for Europe, Dan Townsend. “TWE has a significant footprint across the world, with our wines sold in more than 70 countries. We believe a commitment to providing calorie information on our brands is a positive step that leads the wine industry in responding to consumer interests in this important area.”
Calorie information will be provided online, with a dedicated web address printed on wine brand labels to help direct consumers to this information.
TWE will initially provide calorie information on its wines sold in Europe following the vintage 2016 labelling process. Other regions including the Americas, Asia, and Australia & New Zealand will follow.
Both the Wine and Spirit Trade Association and The Portman Group have welcomed the decision.
“It is another good example of industry leading the way in providing information to consumers so that they can make informed choices about consumption”, said Miles Beal, CEO of the Wine & Spirit Trade Association. “Significantly it also provides the sort of calorie information their consumers want and in a format that they can access easily.”
Henry Ashworth, CEO of The Portman Group, called the decision a great example of a leading drinks company voluntarily using its brand marketing and packaging to provide consumers with information so they can make informed choices about alcohol.
The article is very confusing. It talks about calorie labeling and links to an informational web site as if they were equivalent. They’re not. As winemaker at a boutique winery in upstate New York, having to have every batch (many less than 100 gallons) analyzed would put us out of business.
Hmmm, I have serious questions if this is a ‘good’ trend for the industry.
If anything, ignorance is bliss and this could be a driver to remind the calorie-counting millennial female (or any consumer, for that matter) NOT to order that additional glass of wine because of the calories. I’ve not seen a huge groundswell of consumers demanding this information (and those that do could Google the calorie data of white/red wine in about 30 seconds) and I’d be surprised if this trend is followed by other major wine suppliers.
We shall see…
It’s a solid move, but as Jank points out above, it’ll kill artisan producers, which is likely the reason why TWE (and likely other conglomerates) will push for this as a ‘standard’ that will require onerous regulation and even more costly inspection. Expect similar actions in the beer and spirits business, resulting in substantial barriers to entry for new, small businesses that are nibbling away at the profitability of the international conglomerates.
Instead of labeling for calories (or maybe in addition to …), I’d like to see more labeling for location and source of grapes. For instance, are all of the ‘Australian’ wines really Australian or are they some amalgamation of Chilean, Chinese and Australian wines? And what about additives and flavouring that is becoming routine to deliver that big, zesty full nose that every North American seems to crave?
Ooops. We can’t because the TPP will limit the extent to which products traded in the Pacific Rim can be labeled.
So … it looks like the old-school Europeans had it right all along and if they stick to their guns and inform the public that they sell nothing but fermented grapes, they’ll come out ahead.
Chilean Wines are Simply The Best! What Country! The Best Kind of Wine! Cabernet Sauvignon Casa Concha Marques.
I wonder how this will be applied – only in terms of calorie content of the residual sugars, or calorie content of the ethanol once broken down by the liver as well?