U.S. Offers New Packaging Rules for Specialty Wines

Fortified wines, such as the controversial specialty wine Cisco, could no longer be packaged to look like less-potent wine coolers under proposed federal regulations announced Friday.

“This will apply to every wine beverage imported to or manufactured and sold in the United States,” said Jack Killorn, spokesman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

Killorn said the bureau has received numerous complaints from consumers about Cisco, a specialty wine packaged like a cooler, although it is 20% alcohol. Wine coolers average about 7% alcohol, he said.

“Cisco has been the most visible and caused the most public concern . . . but there are proposals for other products that have heightened our concern,” Killorn said.

The proposed new regulations would give the bureau the authority to determine whether a particular wine container is likely to mislead a purchaser. They will be published in Monday’s Federal Register for public comment.

In response to public criticism, including negative comments by Surgeon General Antonia Novello, the manufacturer of Cisco, Canandaigua Wine Co. of Canandaigua, N.Y., already has announced plans to change its packaging.

“The changes we propose include the use of a dark green glass bottle, a new graphics for--and repositioning of--the label, and a new closure,” Canandaigua President Richard Sands said in a letter this week to Rep. George Miller (D-Martinez).

Miller, who is chairman of the House Select Committee on Youth, has criticized Canandaigua based on reports that Cisco has been linked to alcohol poisoning and violence among teen-agers. He maintains that because of its packaging, Cisco is often placed by retailers next to wine coolers or soft drinks.

Canandaigua executives are to meet with Novello and bureau officials Monday to discuss the planned repackaging.