TTB Modifies Mandatory Labeling for Wine

The U.S. Department of Treasury’s Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau
(TTB) has issued a final rule amending the mandatory labeling requirements
for wine to permit alcohol content “to appear on other labels affixed to the
container rather than requiring it to appear on the brand label.” Effective
August 9, 2013, the final rule seeks to provide greater flexibility in wine
labeling “and will conform the TTB wine labeling regulations to the agreement
reached by the members of the World Wine Trade Group [WWTG] regarding
the presentation of certain information on wine labels.”

According to TTB, the WWTG Agreement on Requirements for Wine Labeling
specifies that all wine labels must display the following common mandatory
information (CMI): (i) country of origin, (ii) alcohol content (percentage by
volume), (iii) net contents, and (iv) product name. Under the agreement, all
four of the CMI elements must appear in a “single field of vision,” that is, “any
part of the surface of the container, excluding its base and cap, that can be
seen without having to turn the container.” The final rule resolves the last
conflict between the WWTG agreement and federal regulations by removing
the TTB requirement that alcohol content appear only on the brand label. See
Federal Register, June 10, 2013.