As a key commitment to the “EU Alcohol & Health Forum”, the “Wine Information Council” aims at disseminating science based information on Health, Cultural and Social Aspects of Wine consumption, and on best practices to promote moderation and responsibility in the wine consumption across Europe.

Brussels, 28 April 2009.- As a commitment to promote responsibility and moderation in the consumption of alcoholic beverages and reduce the harmful use of alcohol the “Wine Information Council (WIC)” is intended to be an authoritative, sound, science driven source of information aimed at providing consistent, objective and balanced information on Health, Social and Cultural Aspects of the consumption of wines.

This information will be available to all stakeholders and the public at large through an on-line database (www.wineinformationcouncil.eu). The WIC also provides information on «best practices» and initiatives promoting responsible drinking patterns which are being deployed across the EU in the framework of the “Wine in Moderation, Art de Vivre” Programme (www.wineinmoderation.eu).

A scientific network and portal database for scientific literature on Wine.
The WIC gathers information on the health, social and cultural aspects of wine consumption and makes it available to everyone. This database has been developed on the basis of existing international scientific specialised sources and is updated under the supervision of a scientific advisory board.

“The WIC is a single place where everyone can easily find balanced science updated information on health and social aspects of wine consumption. This tool will help everyone to balance the scales and to make enlighted and responsible choices” has declared Dr Nicolai Worm, head and spokesperson of the Scientific Advisory pool of the WIC project.

The WIC represents a unique partnership among scientific, academic bodies and experts devoted to the research of Wine & Health, and Wine & Social Aspects, in the different Member States and beyond. This tool will facilitate the coordination of the information between the members of this network, and will help to identify areas for additional research to be carried out by independent experts.

A forum to exchange “best practices” for the promotion of moderation and responsibility in the consumption of wines.
A wide range of actions at different levels are led by the European wine sector with a view to promote moderate responsible drinking patterns in Europe, the majority of them as part of the implementation of the “Wine in Moderation, Art de Vivre” programme www.wineinmoderation.eu.

Some initiatives are local in nature and developed by individual organisations, while others are larger and involve many partners across society. Even if every action is always intricately linked to its social and cultural environment, lessons learnt and successful approaches taken by some can prove useful to others, leading to similar projects in different settings. The WIC aims to communicate the range of existing activities and projects by providing information on their key characteristics, as well as giving the opportunity for an exchange of views and share good practices in an open and transparent way within an accessible format.

“We are proud that Wine in Moderation is mobilised a critical mass of the key leading organisations at EU, national and even local level in our extremely atomized EU Wine sector and has engaged all of us into the effective implementation of our commitment to the Alcohol and Health Forum,” declared Lamberto Gancia, president of CEEV – The Comité Européen des Entreprises des Vins.
Palma Espósito, Vice-president of wine working group of Copa-Cogeca added, “We strongly believe that wine should best be appreciated in moderation and are very pleased, that our joint campaign today enters its next, important phase”.

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For further information, please contact:
José Ramón Fernandez
Secretary General - CEEV
info@wineinmoderation.eu
Tel: +32 2 230 99 70
Mobile: +32 495 28 18 42

Eva Corral
Policy Adviser - Copa-Cogeca
eva.corral@copa-cogeca.eu
Tel : +32 2 287 27 70

Maud Plener
Project Manager – Vigneron Independant
maud.plener@vigneron-independant.com
Tel. : +33 1 53 02 48 91

Note to Editors
• The Wine Information Council (www.wineinformationcouncil.eu) is one of the key initiatives launched in the framework of the “Wine In Moderation, Art de Vivre programme” (www.wineinmoderation.eu).

The “Wine in Moderation, Art de Vivre” program " is an initiative of the combined European wine sector, which has brought together all the EU umbrella professional organisations representing the different families in the wine sector (CEEV www.ceev.be, Copa-Cogeca www.copa-cogeca.eu, CEVI www.cevi-eciw.eu) with a view to contribute to the “EU Strategy to prevent and reduce alcohol misuse related harm” (http://ec.europa.eu/health/ph_determinants/life_style/alcohol/alcohol_com_...).

• The “Wine in Moderation, Art de Vivre” program puts together the entire EU Wine sector stakeholders at EU level, with their national constituencies, to progressively implement in cooperation with national authorities and other stakeholders, a comprehensive and consistent set of concrete and measurable science based information, broad based education and sector self-regulation actions which are relevant to the general aim of the “EU Alcohol and Health Forum”(http://ec.europa.eu/health/ph_determinants/life_style/alcohol/Forum/alcoho...) notably in the following areas:

o "information and education programmes on the effect of harmful drinking and on responsible patterns of consumption";

o "actions to better enforce age limits for selling and serving alcohol";

o "cooperation to promote responsibility in commercial communications and prevent irresponsible commercial communication and sales".

• The Programme works to mobilize the entire Wine sector and partners to promote responsible moderate drinking patterns as a cultural/social norm, with a particular view to contribute towards preventing and reducing excessive consumption and alcohol-related harm and supports initiatives aimed at reducing harmful alcohol-related behaviour in the different MS across Europe, while preserving the cultural, environmental and socioeconomic place of wine in the European societies.

• Its objective is to inform and educate adults and young people about the social and health risks of excessive consumption and misuse, and helping them to make responsible choices as to their consumption of alcohol beverages, while encouraging cultural change in alcohol consumption and making moderation fashionable by supporting the message of wine as a premium product to be savoured slowly and in moderation.

The Programme is the European wine sector’s measurable commitment to implement an effective and specific contribution to the reduction of alcohol-related harm, based on science based information, education and sector self-regulation. The Programme represents the Wine sector’s contribution to the European Commission’s Alcohol and Health Forum within the framework of the EU strategy to support Member states in reducing alcohol related harm. The Alcohol and Health Forum, of which the wine sector is an active participant, aims to coordinate participating actors so successful endeavours can be shared with potential partners across the EU.

www.wineinformationcouncil.eu