TWE to provide calorific information across entire bottled wine portfolio

By Mathew Lyons

Published: 07 December, 2015

Treasury Wine Estates is to provide calorific information across its entire portfolio of bottled wines for the first time.

Calorie information will be provided online, with a dedicated web address printed on each bottle directing consumers to the relevant site.

Work on this initiative has already begun in Europe, where consumer interest in such information is strongest, as part of the company's vintage labeling process.

TWE's other principal regions, such as the Americas and Asia-Pacific, will follow in due coure.

Dan Townsend, TWE general manager for Europe: "We recognise that consumers are increasingly interested in accessing the facts on calorie content to help them make more informed choices on alcohol consumption.

"TWE has a significant footprint across the world, with our wines sold in more than 70 countries. We believe a commitment to providing calorie information on our brands is a positive step that leads the wine industry in responding to consumer interests in this important area."

Miles Beale, chief executive of the WSTA, said: "We welcome TWE's action in this important area. It is another good example of industry leading the way in providing information to consumers so that they can make informed choices about consumption.

"Significantly it also provides the sort of calorie information their consumers want and in a format that they can access easily."

Speaking to Harpers in November 2014, Beale had urged the industry to recognize the inevitability of calorie labeling as part of the fight against obesity in the developed world.

It was important to be proactive and get ahead of the regulators on the issue, he said.

Henry Ashworth, chief executive of the drinks-industry-sponsored responsible-drinking body The Portman Group, said: "We warmly welcome TWE's latest commitment, which is another great example of a leading drinks company voluntarily using their brand marketing and packaging to provide consumers with helpful information so they can make informed choices about alcohol."

TWE's move follows on from a similar initiative announced by Diageo in March across its wine, beers and spirits business.

"We want to provide alcohol and nutrition information that consumers can quickly understand, instead of expecting them to do the maths," Diageo chief executive Ivan Menezes said at the time.

Diageo's commitment involved either on-label information or information appearing on drinkiq.com, the group's responsible drinking website.

Diageo has subsequently disposed of the bulk of its wine business to TWE in a £390 million transaction this October.

TWE owns over 80 wine brands globally, including Wolf Blass, Penfolds and Rosemont Estate.

A recent study revealed that over 80% of people did not know or could not accurately estimate the number of calories in a large glass of wine.

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