Government turns back on alcohol-free wines in excise decree. Saying this Unione Italiana Vini – Uiv

The government is backtracking on what many had hastily read as the decree that gave the green light to the production of alcohol-free wines: “according to what Unione Italiana Vini (Uiv) understands, the Ministry of Economy has withdrawn the regulations on alcohol-free wines recently included in the proposed legislative decree on excise taxes. Now, having overcome the impasse, for Uiv it is necessary for the Ministry of Agriculture to approve the decree as soon as possible taking into account the main elements already discussed with the supply chain”, explains the organization led by Lamberto Frescobaldi.
That among the most important to be regulated it points out “the alcoholization process that will have to take place in specially dedicated premises; the prohibition of the practice for PDO/PGI wines; considering the residual hydroalcoholic solution (mains water, between 95% and 99.9%) as waste and therefore not subject to excise duty. Uiv trusts that in the coming weeks, the Ministry of Agriculture will be able to convene the organizations to present the new proposed decree. Uiv also notes how EU regulation sanctions from 2021 the obligation to call this product “dealcoholized wine” or “partially dealcoholized”. Italian companies are therefore asking to be able to operate under the same conditions as their European competitors, applying the word “wine” to dealcoholized”.