Tuscany opposes the European proposal to add water to wine

FLORENCE, ITALY – A document of the presidency of the EU Council of Ministers allows the practice of partial and total alcohol removal of wines. The proposal envisages authorizing the total or partial elimination of alcohol in the context of oenological practices, with the possibility of adding water to wines with a designation of origin as well.

Contrastingly the Italian agricultural associations explain that in this way it is still allowed to call wine, a product in which the characteristics of naturalness have been completely compromised due to the invasive treatment that intervenes in the centuries-old process of transformation of grapes into must and then into wine. “A legalized deception for consumers who find themselves paying for water like wine”, said Coldiretti in a press release

“The proposal to add water to wine – Coldiretti explaines – is just the latest of the deceptions authorized by the European Union which already allows the addition of sugar in the countries of Northern Europe to increase the alcohol content of the wine, while sugaring has always been prohibited in the countries of Mediterranean and in Italy, which fought a battle to prevent a cellar trick and to definitively affirm the definition of wine as a product made entirely from grapes. But Brussels has also given the green light to wine without grapes from the fermentation of fruit, from raspberries to currants. An oenological practice that alters the very nature of the wine which historically and traditionally is only that entirely obtained from grapes”.

“I read that in Brussels there are those who are thinking of adding water in wine to lower its alcohol content. And they would like to allow this practice also for controlled and guaranteed designations of origin. I assure that Tuscany will do its part, directly and with our national government, so this does not happen”, explains the Tuscan councilor for agri-food, Stefania Saccardi.