January 21, 2017

The best thing to come down the Alsatian pike in a long time: new labeling laws!

From the 2016 vintage, it will be mandatory to mention “vin sec” if the wine is dry. Dry under the European law means until 9 g/L, if the acidity is at least 7 g/L in tartaric. The gap between RS and TA must be 2 g/L max. So for example a Pinot Gris with TA=6.0 g/L could have until RS=8.0 g/L to be dry. Only “sec” is mandatory, meaning that if a wine doesn’t have “vin sec” written, it is a sweeter style wine. The other categories are “demi-sec”, “moelleux” and “doux”.

It is something I have been mentioning on our French back label for more than 5 years, as most of our range is “sec”.
-Mélanie Pfister
www.domaine-pfister.com