In Russia, wine may rise in price by 15% – winemakers ask to cancel the marking “Honest sign”

The Winemaking Union Association, which includes Fanagoria, Kuban-Vino and other wineries, has appealed to Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Grigorenko with a request to cancel the introduction of the Chestny Znak label. This is reported by Vedomosti with reference to the words of the general director of the association Boris Katryukhin.

According to winemakers, this label will inevitably increase costs, which, in turn, will increase the retail price of wine by at least 15%. In addition, according to representatives of the association, the “Honest Sign” will not help the fight against counterfeiting, since stores sell counterfeit products without licenses and bypassing cash registers.

At the same time, representatives of the labeling operator CRPT argue that there will be no new costs or price increases, since the digital code will be placed on the brand that manufacturers put on their products in advance. In addition, other categories of products for which similar labeling was introduced, according to him, did not rise in price.

Earlier, Vedomosti reported that part of the wines may disappear from stores after the New Year due to the fact that winemakers and wine suppliers do not have time to bring their products under the new requirements of Russian legislation.

The Russian authorities have decided not to extend the moratorium on the 345-FZ, which changes the rules for regulating the alcohol market, including introducing a new label for wine. According to the new rules, some drinks that were previously labeled as “table wine” or “liqueur wine” should be labeled as “wine” and “fortified (liqueur) wine” from January 1. Since there was no transition period for changing the label, wine with an “incorrect” label should be recognized as counterfeit and destroyed.

Some companies have already begun to get rid of products that do not comply with the new law. Some winemakers managed to change the label in the summer. Others simply stopped accepting products that did not meet the new requirements.

Recall that according to the November forecasts of Roskachestvo, wines from Italy and France in 2022 can rise in price by almost a third. This could be driven by higher gas prices in Europe (price of a glass bottle), aluminum prices (capping costs), euro pallets and transport.