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The label

Prohibited practices

On this page9
The standard is not only falsity. It is tending to create a misleading impression.

The general prohibition

No statement "that is false or untrue in any particular, or that... tends to create a misleading impression". The second half is the one that catches careful people, because a technically true statement can still mislead.

Health statements

No health-related statement untrue in any particular or tending to create a misleading impression "as to the effects on health of alcohol consumption". The resveratrol-adjacent marketing of the 1990s is what this is about.

Guarantees

No statement, design or representation relating to a guarantee that TTB finds likely to mislead, irrespective of falsity. Money-back guarantees are specifically not prohibited.

The word "old"

Permitted only as part of a brand name. It is an age implication, and age statements are restricted, so it survives as branding and not as a description.

Foreign quality terms

Terms denoting quality under foreign law may not be used on American wine. The regulation names Qualitatswein and Kabinett, which gives a clear sense of the category it is aimed at.

Vintage statements have their own section

A vintage on a label is a regulated claim with its own requirements rather than a note about when the grapes were picked.

Which is the shape of the whole part

Almost every evocative word a wine label wants to use is either regulated or adjacent to something regulated. That is not an argument for a dull label; it is an argument for knowing which words are load-bearing.

Write the back label last

It is where the romance goes and where the misleading impression is most easily created. Draft it, then read it as somebody looking for a claim rather than as somebody who wrote it.

References

27 CFR 4.39, prohibited practices. No statement "that is false or untrue in any particular, or that... tends to create a misleading impression"; no health statement untrue or misleading "as to the effects on health of alcohol consumption"; "old" permitted only as part of a brand name; a brand name of geographic significance only where the wine meets the appellation requirements or the label carries a qualifying statement; and no foreign terms denoting quality under foreign law, the regulation naming "Qualitatswein" and "Kabinett", on American wine. law.cornell.edu
Written from 27 CFR 4.32, 4.39 and 4.72, and from the catalog as it stood on 18 October 2026. Wine is federally permitted, separately regulated by every state, and subject to label approval; permits, formula approval and appellation determinations are outside what these pages cover.