Which Wines Are Lab Tested?

EU rules set the minimum list for wines with a protected name (Implementing Regulation 2019/34, article 20):

• Alcohol, actual and total
• Total sugars
• Total acidity
• Volatile acidity, the acetic acid that smells of vinegar at high levels
• Total sulfur dioxide (SO2), the preservative behind “contains sulfites”
• Carbon dioxide, for sparkling wines

Each appellation can add to the list in its own rules. The tasting panel checks the wine’s color, smell and taste against the appellation’s written description.

Law 238/2016 (article 65) and the ministerial decree of March 12, 2019 set out four tiers:

• DOCG: an authorized lab analyzes every lot, and a tasting panel tastes every lot, before the wine can carry the name.
• DOC: the lab analyzes a risk-based sample of lots, or every lot if the producers of that DOC choose it. The panel tastes every lot in DOCs that certify 10,000 hectoliters or more a year, and a sample in smaller ones.
• IGT: the lab analyzes a sample of lots. No tasting panel.
• Vino (formerly vino da tavola): no exam before release.

A lot that fails loses the name. The producer can appeal to a second panel within 30 days. Otherwise the law requires the producer to declassify the wine, and it can be sold under any lower category it qualifies for.

INAO, the French appellation institute, approves a control plan for each AOC. The plans check samples, not every lot. In the Gigondas plan, approved in 2024, each producer gets 1 to 3 product checks a year, depending on volume. A commission of wine professionals tastes the samples, and a lab analyzes 10% of the lots drawn. Wine shipped abroad in bulk gets both exams every time.

• IGP (formerly vin de pays): lab analysis on a sample of lots. A tasting only follows a failed check.
• Vin de France: no appellation exam.

An AOC wine that fails can lose the appellation. The producer can then sell it as Vin de France.

Each Spanish DO sets its checks in its own rulebook, the pliego de condiciones. Rioja requires every lot to pass a chemical analysis and a tasting before it can carry the name. Rioja also sets a lower sulfur limit than EU law: 140 mg/L for dry reds, against the EU’s 150. Wine sold as Vino de España has no appellation exam.

Scroll the table sideways to see every column

EU limits apply to every row in this table.

A table wine skips the appellation exam. It still has to meet EU law:

• Sulfur dioxide: 150 mg/L for red, 200 mg/L for white and rosé. Wines with 5 g/L of sugar or more may reach 200 and 250 mg/L (Regulation 2019/934).
• Volatile acidity: about 1.2 g/L for red and 1.1 g/L for white and rosé, measured as acetic acid (Regulation 2019/934).
• Lead: 0.10 mg/kg for wine from the 2022 harvest on (Regulation 2023/915).
• Ochratoxin A, a toxin some molds produce on grapes: 2.0 µg/kg (Regulation 2023/915).
• Alcohol: the figure on the label has to fall within 0.5% of the lab result (Regulation 2019/33).
• Pesticides: the residue limits for wine grapes carry over to wine (Regulation 396/2005). The EU samples wine in a monitoring survey. No EU rule requires a pesticide test on each lot.

An importer needs a federal import permit, TTB approval for every label, an FDA facility registration and an FDA notice before each shipment arrives. None of these requires a lab test for ordinary grape wine.

The exception is sulfites. If a wine’s label leaves off “Contains sulfites,” TTB wants a report from its own lab showing less than 10 ppm before it approves the label.

TTB also buys wine at retail and tests it through its Alcohol Beverage Sampling Program. In 2019 the program found 118 parts per billion of lead in an Italian red, and a recall followed.

US limits:

• Sulfur dioxide: 350 ppm maximum. “Contains sulfites” is required at 10 ppm or more.
• Alcohol: the label can differ from the lab result by 1.5% for wines at 14% or less, and by 1% above 14%.
• Lead: no numeric limit since 2017, when FDA withdrew its 1991 guidance. FDA now advises TTB case by case.

Some of the natural wines we carry are labeled Vin de France, Vino or Vino de España. A producer can leave an appellation by choice or end up outside it after a failed exam. A table wine label means the wine skipped the pre-release exam. It still has to meet the EU limits above, and TTB can pull it from a US store shelf for testing like any other wine.

The appellation exam checks the finished wine against the appellation’s analytical and tasting criteria. A wine can pass it and still contain additives the EU authorizes for any wine: sugar or concentrated grape must to raise the alcohol, added acid, tannins, pieces of oak, gum arabic, fining agents made from gelatine, casein, fish bladder (isinglass) or PVPP (a synthetic polymer), metatartaric acid and carboxymethylcellulose to stop tartrate crystals, heat treatments, and copper sulphate to correct faults (Regulation 2019/934, Annex I).

Many natural producers set their own rules, and those rules are stricter than the law. They farm organically or biodynamically, ferment with the yeasts already on the grapes, and add little or no sulfur and none of the additives above. They work this way by choice, because of how they believe wine should be made. Some of the purest, least manipulated wines you can buy are natural wines, including many sold as Vin de France or Vino.

The appellation on the label tells you which exam a wine passed before release. To know what went into the wine, look at how the producer farms and what they add in the cellar.

The EU and US rules cited here do not define a “purity” test for wine. The closest legal checks are the limits on lead, ochratoxin A, pesticide residues and sulfites above. When a seller says a wine is lab tested, ask which parameters the lab measured and against which limits.

Is natural wine lab tested?

A natural wine with a DOCG, DOC, AOC or DO name goes through the same exams as any other wine with that name. A natural wine labeled Vin de France, Vino or Vino de España has no exam before release, and it still has to meet EU limits.

Does the US test imported wine?

Not before label approval, except for wines that leave “Contains sulfites” off the label. TTB tests wines it buys at retail.

Is there a legal limit for lead in wine?

In the EU, 0.10 mg/kg for wine from the 2022 harvest on. The US has had no numeric limit since 2017.

Is wine tested for pesticides?

The EU sets residue limits and samples wine in a monitoring survey. We found no EU or US rule that requires a pesticide test on each lot.

• Italy: Law 238/2016, article 65
• Italy: Ministerial Decree of March 12, 2019 (Gazzetta Ufficiale no. 102, May 3, 2019)
• EU: Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/34, articles 19 and 20
• EU: Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/934, Annex I
• EU: Regulation (EU) 2023/915, contaminants in food
• France: INAO model AOC control plan
• France: AOC Gigondas control plan (2024)
• Spain: Rioja DOCa pliego de condiciones, section b.7.1
• US: 27 CFR part 4, labeling and advertising of wine
• US: TTB, importing bottled alcohol beverages
• US: TTB, beverage alcohol samples and sulfite analysis