Policy makers around the world continue to push for lowering alcohol consumption. While the drinks industry rightfully worries about neo-prohibition, there is another way—a middle path—that governments might take toward moderating consumption: Helping to meet the demand for lower-alcohol alternatives in the marketplace. Often, it’s just a matter of changing the way we label and talk about booze. And it’s significantly less threatening than simply declaring “alcohol is the new tobacco.”
For example, over in the United Kingdom, the government plans to change its legal definition of wine in response to growing consumer demand for low-alcohol beverages, according to a BBC report last week. Under pre-Brexit laws inherited from the E.U., wine currently must contain at least 8.5% alcohol by volume to be called such on a label.
That law will be tossed out next year, and the minimum abv will be lowered to 0% for all types of wine. A government spokesperson told the BBC this move was in response “to increasing demand for low-alcohol alternatives, and [to] give consumers more choice.” The new rules will put wine more in line with low-alcohol or alcohol-free beer or cider, which don’t face such regulations.
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Unsurprisingly, the industry has expressed some caution and skepticism. The U.K.’s Wine and Spirit Trade Association says it wants input into the new labeling rules to ensure there is no confusion in the marketplace. “We need to think about the potential for consumers being misled,” the association’s policy director Simon Stannard told the BBC. But the group intends to work with the changes rather than oppose them.
According to a U.K. government research report, naming “alcohol-free” versions of original alcoholic drinks did not confuse consumers. However, they found that current rules forcing anything below 8.5% abv to be called a “wine-based” product did lead to consumer confusion.
Lowering the legal definition of wine is one of several actions the U.K. government is considering, with a stated goal of promoting the consumption of low- and no-alcohol drinks. “We want to encourage the growth of no- and low-alcohol alternatives for those looking to moderate their alcohol intake,” said U.K. Public Health Minister Neil O’Brien in late September.
One proposed move is to raise the threshold for describing a drink as “alcohol free” to 0.5% abv, as it already can be in the United States. “A higher threshold could see more no- and low-alcohol products on the market,” said the government’s press release. “This could encourage thousands more people to choose an alcohol-free or low-alcohol drink to make healthier choices, moderate alcohol intake, and normalize alternatives to alcohol.” The government also intends to lift the ban on the sale of piquette, the low-alcohol, traditional French farmhouse drink made from fermenting the second pressings of grape pomace and water.
I must admit, when I first read about the U.K.’s move to redefine lower-alcohol wine, my knee-jerk reaction was: This is bad, I hate it. I envisioned a stream of cheap “wine” products flooding the market and causing confusion. But as I gave it more thought, I realized that promoting lower alcohol and de-alcoholized wine alternatives might be the policy compromise that health advocates and the drinks industry are looking for.
In the U.S., this approach should be even easier than in Europe since our government already makes a distinction between wines (and ciders) above and below 7% abv for both labeling and tax purposes. Domestic wine and ciders below 7%, for instance, do need federal label pre-approval, and can still be labeled as such.
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I believe the compromise between industry lobbying and neo-prohibitionists lies in the growing “mindful drinking” movement, which sees drinking as a spectrum. This reasonable approach is about “normalizing alternative options but also admitting that alcohol has a purpose within our culture and we need to recognize that importance,” says Derek Brown, author of Mindful Mixology: A Comprehensive Guide to No- and Low-Alcohol Cocktails, wellness coach and founder of Positive Damage, which consults on no- and low-alcohol beverages.
Mindful drinking, for Brown, is not even about totally cutting alcohol out of your life. “It doesn’t have to be all or nothing. You have options. And you can explore those options on your own terms,” he says. For a worried industry, if one of those options is a wine between 4% and 8%, what’s the problem? These are products that more and more people want to drink.
“It’s fair to say no amount of alcohol is healthy for you, but also that you can live a healthy lifestyle that incorporates alcohol,” Brown says. “You don’t see ice cream arguing that it’s good for you. Ice cream argues that it’s delicious and fun, which is a very valid argument.”
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Last Updated: October 26, 2023
