European Wine Associations

European Wine Associations represent the collective lobbying power of legacy wine-producing member states (such as France, Italy, and Spain) within the European Union. These groups are highly influential in shaping EU agricultural and taxation policies.

Currently, under EU Directive 92/84/EEC, still and sparkling wine enjoy a minimum excise duty rate of €0. As the european-commission-ec pushes for fiscal reform aligned with europes-beating-cancer-plan, these associations are actively defending this preferential tax treatment against proposals for a pure-abv-tax-model, which would tax all ethanol identically and drastically alter the pricing strategy of the wine industry. Additionally, these groups are navigating recent EU naming rule changes that now allow for the dealcoholization of aromatized wines, enabling the sector to compete in the rapidly expanding NoLo market.