What counts as an ingredient in wine?

Grapes, and any product added that remains in the wine: concentrated grape must, rectified concentrated grape must, sucrose where enrichment with sugar is allowed, the tirage and expedition liqueurs of sparkling wines, and additives such as acidity regulators, preservatives, antioxidants and stabilising agents.

  • Grapes: the term “grapes” is the first ingredient.
  • Enrichment and sweetening products: concentrated grape must, rectified concentrated grape must, sucrose.
  • Sparkling wines: tirage liqueur and expedition liqueur, which may be listed by name.
  • Additives: always with their category, then the name or E number.
  • Processing aids that do not remain in the wine (most fining agents, filtration aids) are not listed, except allergens if detectable.

Which additive categories are used on wine labels?

The main ones are acidity regulators, preservatives, antioxidants and stabilising agents. Each additive is written with its category, for example “acidity regulator: tartaric acid” or “stabilising agent: gum arabic”. The terms are set by Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/1606.

Which additive categories are used on wine labels?
CategoryCommon examples in wine
Acidity regulatorTartaric acid, malic acid, lactic acid, potassium bicarbonate
PreservativeSulphites (sulphur dioxide, potassium metabisulphite), potassium sorbate
AntioxidantSulphites, ascorbic acid (vitamin C)
Stabilising agentGum arabic, carboxymethylcellulose, metatartaric acid, mannoproteins
Packaging gasesArgon, nitrogen, carbon dioxide (special wording allowed)

Similar acidity regulators or stabilising agents may be grouped with “contains … and/or …”, under the conditions of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/1606.

What does a complete ingredients list look like?

Three typical examples below. Allergens are in bold. Your own list depends on what was actually used in your wine; never copy a template without checking it against your cellar records.

  • Dry red wine: Ingredients: grapes, preservative: sulphites.
  • White wine, acidified and stabilised: Ingredients: grapes, acidity regulator: tartaric acid, preservative: sulphites, stabilising agent: gum arabic.
  • Brut sparkling wine: Ingredients: grapes, sucrose, tirage liqueur, expedition liqueur, preservative: sulphites.

How must allergens be shown in the list?

Highlighted so that they stand out from the rest of the list, usually in bold, for example “preservative: sulphites”. They must also be printed on the label itself, outside the list, when the list is only online (Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011, art. 21).

What does “contains … and/or …” mean in a wine ingredients list?

Some acidity regulators and stabilising agents do the same job and can be swapped from one batch to the next. Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/1606 allows listing up to three of them with “contains … and/or …”, provided at least one of them is present in the wine.

Example: “acidity regulator: contains tartaric acid and/or malic acid”. This avoids a new label each time the cellar switches products, but it cannot be used to list additives that were never used.

How are packaging gases declared?

Gases used to protect the wine at bottling, such as argon, nitrogen or carbon dioxide, may be replaced in the list by a specific statement such as “bottled under a protective atmosphere”, under Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/1606. The exact wording follows the language version of the regulation.

Where should the ingredients list appear?

Either in full on the label, or on the e-label page reached through a QR code with the word “ingredients” next to it. If you print it, it must follow the same rules of order, categories and legibility as any food label. Most wineries put it online because a full list in several languages takes room.

Either way, the allergens are printed on the label. When the list is online, the label shows the allergen line on its own, such as “contains sulphites”.

Do I need a separate list for each vintage?

Only if what you used changed. If one vintage was acidified and the next was not, the lists differ. With an e-label, keep one page per vintage when the content changes, so each bottle shows its own information.

What is the most common mistake?

Listing additives without their category (“tartaric acid” instead of “acidity regulator: tartaric acid”), forgetting the expedition liqueur of a sparkling wine, or listing fining agents that are not ingredients. All three are easy to fix before printing.

Questions from winemakers

Do wine labels have to list ingredients?

Yes, in the EU, for wines produced from 8 December 2023, on the label or through a QR code with the word “ingredients”.

Must I list yeast?

Yeasts are processing aids and are generally not listed as ingredients.

Is water an ingredient in wine?

Water is not added to wine except in specific cases allowed by EU law; when it is used only to dilute an additive, it is not listed.

Sources

Selection criteria: we cite official texts first (EUR-Lex, national law portals), then named surveys with their publisher.

Updated on November 2, 2026 by the WineLex team