In response to the need for broader research on the social and cultural aspects of drinking in Europe, the Wine Information Council (WIC) was developed in collaboration with sources from European authorities and international scientific bodies. The WIC aims at two objectives: developing a centralized database portal on wine ensuring that sound science-based information is commonly made available to all stakeholders of the wine sector as well as to the public at large, and sharing «best practices» of European wine sector organisations promoting responsible drinking patterns.

The WIC website therefore consists of two main sections:

A database portail on scientific literature on Wine

lots of studies have been and are being carried out in Europe and beyond on the health, social and cultural aspects of wine consumption. The aims of the WIC are to gather such information into a centralized database portail, to make it understandable to all and to make it available for people at large. >>Click here to enter the scientific database portail.

This database is developed and updated under the supervision of a scientific advisory pool.

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 responsible drinking patterns in Europe, as part of the implementation to the “Wine in Moderation, Art de Vivre” program. Some are local in nature and organised by individual organisations, while others are larger in scale and involve many partners across society. Though any action is always intricately linked to its social and cultural environment, lessons learnt and approaches taken by some can prove useful to others, leading similar projects in different settings.

The aim of the WIC is to communicate on a range of existing activities and projects by providing basic information on the key characteristics of such programmes, as well as on their monitoring and evaluation schemes, and on the results achieved.

The WIC is open to contributions from all interested organisations and agencies working towards the promotion of moderate responsible drinking patterns of wine , thereby providing an opportunity to exchange views and share good practices in an open and transparent way and in an accessible format. >>Click here to access the factsheets on best practices.

The Wine Information Council is part of the Wine in Moderation programme.