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The international wine trade is growing and his composition in terms of wine categories and the role of participants as importer or exporter are changing. The major change is the increase of weight on global import of small importers and, particularly, of many countries in the past rather far from wine international trade (small non traditional importing countries). Indeed, in the period 2004-2009, almost all the growth in value and two thirds of the growth in volume of international wine trade has been generated by the small importers; these countries are therefore the ones most actively contributing to the dynamic of world wine demand. The change of the structure of the demand for wine import is determining also a new interest for bulk wine. The competitive performance of supplier in the wine market of small importing countries is not uniform. Considering the larger supplier, France and Italy, is remarkable the better performance of France on small non traditional importing countries. Chile and Argentina are dominating the international trade toward Latin America.

Background: Nowadays there is a strong debate on the need to introduce mandatory nutritional information on alcoholic beverages labels, and particularly on wine, as a tool to promote more health-conscious drinking patterns in society. In 2018, the European alcoholic beverages industry presented a self-regulatory proposal, now under assessment by the European Commission. The most critical issue is how to convey nutritional information to consumers, as producers should decide to apply information on label or off-label. Method: The current study measured, through a non-hypothetical, incentive compatible artefactual field experiment, Italian wine consumers (N = 103) preferences for four different formats of wine nutritional labelling, namely: back label with the indication of kcal for glass of wine, with the nutritional panel referred to 100 mL, without nutritional information (but with a link to an external website) and with the indication of key nutrients for glass of wine. Results: Findings reveal that respondents preferred the nutritional panel on the back label, assigning the lowest preference to the less informative wine label (only with a website recall). Furthermore, results show a low level of respondents&rsquo, knowledge of wine nutritional properties. Conclusion: Findings, while limited in terms of sample representativeness, seem to support the European Consumer Organisation and the European Alcohol Policy Alliance objection to an off-line label and the advocacy for a traditional and complete on label nutritional information on wine.

Summary Wine exports from the European Union have gained shares in both traditional markets (US, Canada, Switzerland and Japan) and in new markets (China, Hong Kong and Russia). In coming years, major growth in consumption and imports is expected in these new markets and in others, like Singapore, South Korea, India, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa and Angola. Most of the above new markets, however, are still heavily protected by high tariff and non-tariff barriers, the most intrusive being wine labelling regulations, oenological practices, maximum residue limits of agrichemicals, certification and testing procedures. Since the stalling of the Doha multilateral negotiations exporting countries have been negotiating Free Trade Agreements to gain preferential access to fast growing markets. The EU has signed several agreements relevant to the wine trade (e.g. with South Korea, Singapore and Canada) and a number of negotiations are currently in progress. However, some of the EU's main competitors, in particular Chile, Australia and New Zealand, are very active as well. EU wine exporters would therefore be aided by an effective trade policy strategy, otherwise they risk losing ground to their competitors. The timely conclusion of the agreements currently under negotiation (as with India) and a prompt start to negotiations with China would therefore be desirable. Les exportations de vin de l'Union europeenne ont gagne des parts a la fois sur les marches traditionnels (Etats-Unis, Canada, Suisse et Japon) et sur de nouveaux marches (Chine, Hong-Kong et Russie). Dans les prochaines annees, une forte hausse de la consommation et des importations est attendue dans ces nouveaux marches et dans d'autres comme Singapour, la Coree du sud, l'Inde, le Bresil, le Mexique, l'Afrique du Sud et l'Angola. Cependant, la plupart des nouveaux marches ci-dessus sont toujours fortement proteges par des droits de douanes eleves et des barrieres non tarifaires, dont les plus penalisantes sont les reglementations en matiere d'etiquetage, les pratiques œnologiques, les limites maximales de residus de produits phytosanitaires, et les procedures de certification et de verification. Depuis que les negociations multilaterales de Doha sont en panne, les pays exportateurs ont signe des accords commerciaux bilateraux qui affectent le commerce du vin (par exemple avec la Coree du sud, Singapour et le Canada) et un certain nombre de negociations sont en cours. Cependant, certains des principaux concurrents de l'Union europeenne, en particulier le Chili, l'Australie et la Nouvelle-Zelande, sont egalement tres actifs. Il serait donc utile, pour eviter que les exportateurs de vin de l'Union europeenne risquent de perdre du terrain par rapport a leurs concurrents, de mettre en place une strategie efficace pour la politique commerciale. La conclusion en temps voulu des accords en cours de negociation (par exemple avec l'Inde) et un demarrage rapide des negociations avec la Chine seraient donc les bienvenus. Der Anteil der Weinexporte aus der Europaischen Union ist sowohl in traditionellen Markten (USA, Kanada, der Schweiz und Japan) als auch in neuen Markten (China, Hongkong und Russland) gestiegen. In den kommenden Jahren wird ein erhebliches Wachstum von Verbrauch und Importen in diesen neuen Markten und weiteren wie Singapur, Sudkorea, Indien, Brasilien, Mexiko, Sudafrika und Angola erwartet. Die meisten der genannten neuen Markte werden jedoch stark durch Zollbarrieren und zollfremde Handelshemmnisse geschutzt. Zu den relevantesten zahlen Weinkennzeichnungsvorschriften, onologische Verfahren, MRL-Werte fur Agrochemikalien sowie Pruf- und Zertifizierungsverfahren. Seitdem die multilateralen Verhandlungen von Doha ins Stocken geraten sind, verhandeln die Exportlander uber Freihandelsabkommen, um bevorzugten Zugang zu schnellwachsenden Markten zu erhalten. Die EU hat mehrere fur den Weinhandel relevante Abkommen unterzeichnet (z.B. mit Sudkorea, Singapur und Kanada) und fuhrt derzeit etliche Verhandlungen. Einige Hauptkonkurrenten der EU, insbesondere Chile, Australien und Neuseeland, sind jedoch auch nicht untatig. Den Weinexporteuren der EU ware daher mit einer wirksamen handelspolitischen Strategie geholfen, andernfalls riskieren sie, gegenuber der Konkurrenz an Boden zu verlieren. Der zugige Abschluss der derzeit verhandelten Abkommen (z.B. mit Indien) und ein unverzuglicher Beginn der Verhandlungen mit China waren daher wunschenswert.

The global strategy to reduce the harmful use of alcohol launched in 2010 by the World Health Organization includes, amongst several areas of recommended actions, providing consumer information about, and labelling, alcoholic beverages to indicate alcohol-related harm. Labelling requirements worldwide for alcoholic drinks are currently quite diverse and somewhat limited compared to labelling on food products and on tobacco. In this context, the current paper contributes to the academic and political debate on the inclusion of nutritional and health information on wine labelling, providing some insights into consumer interest in, and preferences for, such information in four core wine-producing and -consuming countries: Italy, France, Spain, and the United States of America. A rating-based conjoint analysis was performed in order to ascertain consumer preferences for different formats of additional information on wine labels, and a segmentation of the sample was performed to determine the existence of homogeneous groups of consumers in relation to the degrees of usefulness attached to the nutritional and health information on wine labels. Our results highlight the interest expressed by European and United States consumers for introducing nutrition and health information on wine labels. However, the results of conjoint analysis show some significant differences among stated preferences of the information delivery modes in different countries. In addition, segmentation analysis reveal the existence of significant differences between consumer groups with respect to their interest in receiving additional information on wine labels. These differences are not only linked to the geographic origin of the consumers, or to socio-demographic variables, but are also related to wine consumption habits, attitudes towards nutritional information, and the degree of involvement with wine. This heterogeneity of consumer preferences indicates a need for a careful consideration of wine labelling regulations and merits further investigation in order to identify labelling guidelines in terms of the message content and presentation method to be used.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate consumers’ interest and preference for health warnings on wine label, and the key socio-demographic and attitudinal variables driving this interest. Design/methodology/approach – Data were gathered, by a professional marketing company, through an on line survey with a sample of 300 Italians, aged over 18, consuming wine at least once a month. Findings – Respondents were interested in receiving more information on nutritional and health features of wine through the label, and would also like to obtain information about the warnings about possible side effects related to excessive wine consumption. The most relevant variables influencing positive interest toward this information are gender (female), age (younger cohort), education level (higher), presence of children in the household and being the main responsible of grocery shopping. Research limitations/implications – The research was limited by being conducted only in Italy, using explorative methodology. Social implications – Outcomes provide useful evidence for advocates calling for the introduction of health warnings on wine labels and policy makers. Originality/value – To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to analyze Italian consumer interest toward health warnings on wine label.