Manifesto
TOWA (Transparency for Organic Wine Association) is a citizens’ collective that brings together consumers and professionals in the wine production and supply chain, with the aim of persuading the national and European institutions to regulate access to transparency in the framework of the review of the Organic Wines Directive.
Today, despite the regulatory obligation in the EU to indicate the composition of the ingredients on any food product, wine remains an exception, and this prevents consumers from evaluating the level of quality and safety of the product they wish to purchase; and we must consider that we’re talking about organic wine, for which the expectations in terms of quality and food safety are higher than for conventional wines. It is essential to implement a policy able to guarantee consumers access to information on the composition and the practices used for each organic wine.
TOWA asks that the European Commission take the following action when reviewing the Organic Wines Directive:
- Set up a Committee of Experts to define the parameters to be analysed and the pertinent scale, and a reading grid that makes it possible to categorise these results into graded quality indicators, while taking account of climatic or other conditions.
- Implement a process of access to transparency regarding the composition of organic wines sold, perhaps through a portal where the winemakers or an accredited laboratory could post the results of the analyses conducted on the wines, which can then be consulted by consumers (for example using a QR code)
- Draw up a financial model for a more ambitious policy for the organic wine sector