Energy calculation
New rules for nutrition declarations on labels
Wines, completed after 8 December 2023, must have a declaration of Ingredients and Nutritional content per 100 ml.
Reference: The EU's Food Regulation on food information, Q&A Guide (link to Danish version)
Declaration on the wine label or by using QR codes?
If you can find space on the wine label (or back label) for the nutritional declaration, it is by far the simplest method!
If there is no space on the label, a QR code can be inserted on the label instead, which directs the consumer to a website where the data can be found.
The rules for the design of the electronic declaration can be found in the Food Regulation (link above). One of the significant restrictions is that the consumer must not be exposed to sales/marketing and tracking on the site. This can be accomplished in several ways.
Either you can use web services for this, so that the information is not on the manufacturer's website together with e.g. marketing info, – it costs an annual subscription for the entire life of the product. Or you can copy the solution we practice here on our website:
Our QR code links to a product page that is completely naked – without header, footer and menus to other pages. There is only one language menu, as the information must be presented in the languages that are relevant in the countries where you sell your wine.
If you go to the product page from our overview page "Our wines” (and thus already has access to our complete menu), then opens, among other things, for the backlink and a subjective description of the wine – on exactly the same page. (It requires some programming of the website.)
Example:
1) Link from QR code: https://www.vrangbaekgaard.dk/2022-raadhusklokken/
2) Link from the overview page: https://www.vrangbaekgaard.dk/2022-raadhusklokken/?show_all=true
It is our interpretation, that this is OK in relation to the legal text, even if it does not follow the Guideline.
Others are welcome to be inspired, but must themselves be responsible for their chosen solution.
Examples of web services: Sip label and ScanForFacts.
Guide for using the QR codes on labels prepared by ScanForFacts in collaboration with Sven Moesgaard, Skærsøgaard:
https://scanforfacts.io/quick-guide-on-presenting-nutrition-ingredients-for-wines/
Article about the nutrition declaration and QR codes in Vinpressen: Vinpressen 2024-1 (Sven Moesgaard).
Regardless of which solution you choose to use, the nutrient content must be calculated:
Calculation of the necessary values for the nutrient content
The most important part of the total energy content comes from the alcohol. Next, there may be some residual sweetness if the yeast has not fully fermented or if liqueur has been added during the adjustment of sparkling wines. And finally, some glycerol is formed during fermentation.
The glycerol can be difficult to measure without advanced measuring equipment, but since it is formed in parallel with the yeast converting the sugar into alcohol, it can be estimated as 6% of the amount of alcohol formed. This factor is found as an average of many Winescan measurements on different wines. The uncertainty is expected to correspond to the uncertainty of Winescan's glycerol calibration, - and since the glycerol makes up a very small part of the total energy, the estimated value is sufficiently good for use on the label.
In the calculation below, a distinction is made between "total alcohol" and "fermented alcohol". In the case of a 'normal' fermented wine, the two values will be equal. But by e.g. a fortified wine of the port type, the fermentation is stopped after a few days by adding pure alcohol until the desired total alcohol percentage is reached. For the energy calculation, the total alcohol percentage must be used, while the alcohol percentage the yeast had reached when it was stopped must be used for the glycerol calculation.