🍷 Back label

A back label is the label on the reverse of a wine bottle. The EU has no separate rule for it. What the law asks is that the required particulars sit together in one field of vision, so you can take them in without turning the bottle. In practice that means they go on the front label or on the back one.

The required list covers the product category, the PDO or PGI name where there is one, actual alcohol strength, where the wine comes from, who bottled it, the volume and, for sparkling wine, the sugar level. Letters must be at least 1.2 mm high. Tasting notes and serving tips are not on that list. Whatever of the sort you read on a back label is the producer's own choice.

Ingredients and nutrition joined the list on 8 December 2023. They can be printed or put behind a QR code, as long as the online page is as clear as print and carries no advertising. Allergens stay on the bottle itself. In Italy sulphites must be declared above 10 mg per litre. Importer, lot number and best-before date may sit outside the shared field of vision.

So a back label is the second half of the wine label, not a separate document. Read the two sides together, and you can compare bottles before the first sip at a wine tasting.