The European Commission has presented a draft regulation known as the Wine Package, aimed at addressing a range of challenges facing the EU wine sector. Will this major piece of legislation be the right recipe to forge a brighter future?
In 2024, as the EU wine sector was facing an accumulating series of challenges, the European Commission called for a High Level Meeting on wine policy. The outcome of that process was the Commission’s presentation of its proposal for a Wine Package early in 2025. This draft regulation has raised high expectations, aimed at revitalising the EU wine sector in the face of major structural changes both inside and outside the industry.
To fully understand the impact of this draft regulation, it is important to first understand the reality we are facing and the ideal solutions that would be required.
Without a doubt, recent years have brought an increasing number of challenges: from changing consumer trends, inflation and trade disputes, to COVID, the war in Ukraine, inflation and the on-the-vine impact of climate change. These changes, some structural, other conjunctural, have created important imbalances in the wine sector and have called for the triggering of emergency measures in certain regions (i.e., distillation, green harvesting, private storage) to overcome difficult situations. These short-term public interventions highlight a disequilibrium in the market that needs to be addressed in a more stable, future-oriented approach.
Beyond the critical challenges facing grape and wine production, there is no doubt that the long-term structural decline in wine consumption — particularly in traditional markets — lies at the heart of the current crisis in the EU wine sector.
Facing this kind of structural decline, the European Committee of Wine Companies (CEEV) has called for policy solutions that focus on fortifying wine markets with the aim to best meet consumer needs and expectations. CEEV believes that support should therefore prioritise, on one hand, boosting competitiveness and the capacity to respond to market demand, and on the other, strengthening resilience to climate change through adaptation and mitigation measures. In other words, support should be directed towards operators willing to invest in the future of the wine sector, rather than using EU funds for destructive measures such as grubbing-up and distillation
What history teaches
But how can we address the elephant in the room: the growing market imbalance between production and consumption? And why should EU support focus on market-oriented measures rather than on destructive tools that simply shrink supply to match falling demand? The answer lies in experience. History has shown that strengthening the market, not reducing production capacity, is the most effective and sustainable path forward.
Since the major 2008 reform, the EU’s Common Market Organisation has aimed to make Europe’s wine producers more competitive, to simplify and improve market-management rules, and to preserve the best traditions of European winegrowing while reinforcing its social and environmental role in rural areas.
This wine-specific approach has proven its value: it has enhanced the global competitiveness of EU wines and significantly boosted exports, which grew from €3.9 billion in the 2004/2005 campaign to €16.6 billion in 2024/2025, resulting in a €15.1 billion positive trade balance.
By contrast, the EU allocated more than €1 billion to subsidise grubbing-up between 2009 and 2011, resulting in the loss of over 164,000 hectares of vineyards. Yet despite this massive reduction in planted area, EU wine production did not significantly decrease between 2011 and 2023. This clearly demonstrates that destructive measures do not address the structural imbalance, nor do they improve the sector’s long-term resilience.
The Commission assessed the situation clearly, and at the heart of the Wine Package is an overhaul of the tools available to Member States to manage production imbalances, provide administrative flexibility and adapt to shifting market realities.
The Commission proposes to give national authorities greater capacity to prevent surpluses by allowing them to set maximum yields and attach conditions to vineyard-planting authorisations, particularly when EU financial support is involved. In situations of persistent oversupply, countries would also gain broader access to crisis-management measures such as green harvesting, grubbing-up schemes and emergency distillation.
Planting authorisations
The rules governing planting authorisations would also be tightened. Only Member States with very small vineyard areas would be exempt from the scheme. At the same time, the system for replanting authorisations would become more flexible: their validity would be extended from three to eight years, and producers would no longer face penalties for delays before replanting, easing administrative pressure on growers.
To help the sector respond to climate pressures, the Commission proposes increasing the level of support available for environmental investments: projects related to climate change mitigation and adaptation could receive up to 80% EU co-financing. This would cover both tangible and intangible investments.
New rules for alcohol-free
The proposal also modernises rules for low- and no-alcohol wines. It clarifies the categories, defines “alcohol-free” products as having up to 0.5% alcohol by volume, and introduces the term “alcohol-light” for partially dealcoholized wines. Production rules for de-alcoholised sparkling wines would be simplified. In parallel, the Commission plans to introduce a harmonised symbol that would identify the QR code that guides consumers to the ingredient list and nutritional information.
Another major aspect of the Wine Package is its support for strengthening the connection between wine-growing regions and consumers. This includes greater backing for wine-tourism projects. In addition, the promotion of EU wines in third-country markets would benefit from longer-term support, with the maximum duration of promotional activities extended from three to five years.
Finally, the Commission aligns the legal framework for aromatised wine products (such as vermouth and sangría) with that applying to wine, notably regarding the identification of the QR code used for digital information requirements and the authorisation of the production of aromatised wine products with dealcoholized and partially dealcoholized wines to meet consumers demand.
A good or a bad proposal?
So, is the Commission’s proposal a good policy package? Overall, yes, even if some technical elements need to be adapted. It provides a balanced response to the need for improved supply management without over-relying on destructive measures, while simplifying several administrative rules to increase the efficiency of support instruments. It also introduces provisions that facilitate market adaptation (rules on no- and low alcohol) and reduce commercialisation costs (language free identification of the QR code), helping the sector respond more effectively to evolving consumer expectations and market realities.
Is the Wine Package enough to save the sector from the current crisis? Unfortunately, no. On its own, it cannot reverse the long-term decline in wine consumption. However, EU policy can act as a catalyst for success when its rules strengthen companies’ competitiveness, lower commercialisation costs, and provide the tools needed to better connect with consumers. The fact that the debate is no longer centred solely on how many hectares should be grubbed-up or how many litres should be distilled is, in itself, already a major step forward.
About the CEEV
As the voice of the European Union’s wine companies, CEEV’s mission is to lead and coordinate the dialogue among the combined European and international wine sector, and to defend the common interests of EU wine companies towards the relevant national, European, international authorities and stakeholders in all policy areas affecting the wine sector.
E-mail : [email protected] — Site : www.ceev.eu
