The short answer
Digital Label Services prints wine, beer, spirit and beverage labels for Australian producers, on wet-strength and wash-off materials chosen for ice buckets, cold rooms and export freight. We supply short cellar-door runs, vintage changes and variable data, plus the label printers, stock and consumables behind in-house printing at Green Point NSW.
Digital Label Services · 7A Melissa St, Green Point NSW 2251 · 0431 942 464 · Monday to Friday, 8:30am–5:00pm
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A wine or beer label answers to more rules than almost any other consumer product. It carries trade measurement marking, an alcohol statement, a standard drinks statement and a pregnancy warning with specified colours and character heights, and for export it has to satisfy a second layer again. All of that sits inside a design that still has to look like a brand.
Digital Label Services supplies wineries, breweries, distilleries and beverage producers with the wine labels Australian producers need for domestic and export markets, and with the presses, printers, label stock and consumables to run production on site. This page covers the mandatory content, the prescribed mark sizes and the export steps, then the material and print decisions that decide whether a label survives an ice bucket.
What must appear on an Australian wine or beverage label?
Alcohol content is stated as a percentage by volume, written as % alc/vol. Wine Australia allows a tolerance of 1.5 per cent for products above 6.5 per cent alcohol by volume, tightening to 0.5 per cent for fortified wine and spirits. The figure you print is the figure you are held to, so it is set against the analysis rather than the label deadline.
The supplier’s Australian street address is required and a PO box will not satisfy it. Measurement marking carries its own minimum character height, which is 3.3 mm on a standard 750 mL bottle. Variety, vintage and geographical indication claims are governed by the 85 per cent rule, which is the threshold sitting behind any single-variety, single-vintage or single-region statement on a front label.
Content a typical Australian wine label has to carry:
- Alcohol by volume, expressed as % alc/vol
- A standard drinks statement, required above 0.5 per cent alcohol by volume
- A pregnancy warning mark, required above 1.15 per cent alcohol by volume
- Measurement marking of the net contents on the main display panel
- The supplier’s name and Australian street address
- A declaration of added sulphites where they are present at 10 mg/kg or more
How do you work out the standard drinks statement?
A standard drink is defined in Standard 2.7.1 of the Food Standards Code as 10 grams of ethanol at 20 degrees Celsius. The statement is required on any beverage above 0.5 per cent alcohol by volume, which captures beer, wine, cider, spirits and most ready-to-drink products.
The arithmetic is volume in litres multiplied by percentage alcohol by volume multiplied by 0.789. A 750 mL bottle at 14 per cent works out at 8.3 standard drinks. Because the number moves with the alcohol statement, a vintage finishing higher than the last one changes the figure on the label, which is one of the reasons small producers value digital label printing over plate-based runs.
When is a pregnancy warning required, and what does it look like?
Standard 2.7.1 requires the pregnancy warning mark on beverages above 1.15 per cent alcohol by volume. It was gazetted on 31 July 2020 with a three-year transition that closed on 31 July 2023, extended to 1 February 2024 for post-printed corrugated outers, so it now applies across the board.
The design is prescribed rather than suggested. The words PREGNANCY WARNING are set in upper case bold sans serif in red, specified as PMS 485. The statement Alcohol can cause lifelong harm to your baby is set in sentence case in black. Both sit on a white background, and the minimum element sizes change with the volume of the container.
What records does the Label Integrity Program require?
The Label Integrity Program sits under Part VIA of the Wine Australia Act 2013 and exists so that a vintage, variety or regional claim can be traced back through a winery’s own records. Records must be made within three days of the activity they relate to and kept for seven years.
The penalties are not nominal. Breaches carry up to two years imprisonment and 120 penalty units, and an export licence can be suspended on top of that. For a producer this is a paperwork discipline rather than a printing one, but it is the reason a label claim should never be signed off ahead of the records supporting it. Wine Australia sets out the program.
What do you need before you can export?
Shipments over 100 litres need export approval. The sequence starts with an export licence obtained through the Wine Australia Licensing and Approval System, which Wine Australia indicates takes five business days, followed by product registration and then a shipping approval for each consignment.
Destination paperwork sits on top of that, and wine going to the European Union or the United Kingdom also needs a VI-1 certificate. Export labels are frequently a separate SKU from the domestic label, which pushes producers towards short-run printing rather than committing to a long run of a label a single market may not accept.
Which materials survive ice buckets, cold rooms and washing?
Beverage labels fail in ways dry-goods labels never do. Condensation attacks a chilled bottle from the front face and works into the adhesive from the edges inwards, and an ice bucket does the same thing faster. Most of the wine labels Australian cellar doors sell are handled cold at least once. We supply label stock and materials alongside printed product labels, so the facestock can be chosen against the serving condition rather than discovered afterwards.
Facestocks and adhesives
Wet-strength paper or a synthetic facestock earns its cost quickly on anything served cold or held in ice, because an uncoated paper stock will cockle, bruise and lift. Wash-off adhesives are the choice where bottles are returned, reclaimed or reused, since residue becomes a cleaning cost in the bottling hall. Export cartons and long sea transits add humidity cycling, which is a different problem again from a short cold-room stay.
Short runs, vintages and embellishment
Digital presses handle small batches, cellar-door exclusives and one-off collaborations without plate costs, and variable data can carry batch codes or bottling dates within the run. Embellishment is where digital has limits: heavy foil, deep emboss and some textured stocks still need a separate finishing pass, so the design should be discussed against the press before it is approved. The Crafty Pint records Marrickville as home to more breweries than any other Australian suburb, and our label printing marrickville page covers deliveries into Sydenham Road and the streets around it.
What should you plan for before the next reprint?
One change is already dated. Under Proposal P1059, energy labelling on alcoholic beverages becomes mandatory from 13 August 2028. Producers redrawing artwork now can leave panel space for it rather than paying for two redesigns, and anyone ordering a multi-year quantity of a label should factor that date in. FSANZ has published guidance and a calculator.
Responsibility for the content sits with the producer. Digital Label Services supplies labels, label stock, printers and consumables, and does not certify, approve or guarantee that artwork or label content complies. Alcohol statements, standard drinks figures, allergen declarations, origin claims and the pregnancy warning are the licensee’s responsibility, and requirements should be confirmed with FSANZ and Wine Australia. Label materials, adhesives, inks and finishes should be selected according to the intended application and relevant Australian requirements.
How large does the pregnancy warning mark have to be?
Minimum element sizes under Standard 2.7.1, which change with the volume of the container.
| Container size | Pictogram minimum height | Signal words | Warning statement |
|---|---|---|---|
| 200 mL or less | 8 mm | Pictogram only | Pictogram only |
| Over 200 mL up to 800 mL | 6 mm | 2.1 mm | 1.6 mm |
| Over 800 mL | 9 mm | 2.8 mm | 2.1 mm |
The signal words are set in red specified as PMS 485 and the statement in black, both on a white background. Confirm the current requirements with FSANZ before artwork is approved for print.
“Digital Label Services have delivered quality labels and consumables, cost savings and support for the last 7 months for our colour label printers ensuring that a key component of our business runs efficiently.”
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Frequently asked questions
How many standard drinks are in a 750 mL bottle at 14 per cent?
8.3 standard drinks. The calculation is volume in litres multiplied by percentage alcohol by volume multiplied by 0.789, so 0.75 multiplied by 14 multiplied by 0.789 gives 8.3. A standard drink is defined in Standard 2.7.1 as 10 grams of ethanol at 20 degrees Celsius, and the statement is required above 0.5 per cent alcohol by volume.
What tolerance applies to the alcohol statement?
Wine Australia allows a tolerance of 1.5 per cent for products above 6.5 per cent alcohol by volume, reducing to 0.5 per cent for fortified wine and spirits. Because the standard drinks figure is derived from the stated alcohol content, moving one moves the other, so both should be settled before the label goes to print.
Can we use a PO box as the address on the label?
No. An Australian street address for the supplier is required, and a PO box does not satisfy it. The same principle applies to trade measurement marking, where the National Measurement Institute states that PO boxes and email addresses are not acceptable in place of the packer’s street address. Confirm your position with the relevant authority.
How large does the pregnancy warning have to be on a 750 mL bottle?
A 750 mL bottle falls in the band above 200 mL and up to 800 mL, so the pictogram is a minimum of 6 mm, the signal words 2.1 mm and the warning statement 1.6 mm. The signal words are printed in red specified as PMS 485 and the statement in black, on a white background.
Do we need approval before shipping wine overseas?
Shipments over 100 litres need export approval. That means an export licence through the Wine Australia Licensing and Approval System, which Wine Australia indicates takes five business days, then product registration, then a shipping approval for each consignment. Wine bound for the European Union or the United Kingdom also needs a VI-1 certificate.
Can you print a short run for a cellar-door release?
Yes. Low volume runs cover 1 to 1,000 labels, and medium volume runs from 1,000 labels can be produced without printing plates, with production stated at within seven working days. That suits single-barrel releases, collaborations and vintage-to-vintage changes where committing to a long run of one artwork makes no sense.
Further reading
- Wine Label Requirements for Export: Country-by-Country Basics
- Label Adhesives Explained: Permanent, Removable, Freezer and Wash-Off
Getting your next label run specified
Tell us the bottle, the closure, the serving condition and the run length, and we will quote the wine labels Australian producers need, plus beer, spirit and beverage labels. Call 0431 942 464.
Get a Personalised QuoteSpeak With Our Printer SpecialistsCall 0431 942 464
References and further reading
- Guide to labelling requirements — Wine Australia. alcohol tolerances, the standard drinks formula, address and the 85 per cent rule
- Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code – Standard 2.7.1 – Labelling of alcoholic beverages and food containing alcohol — Federal Register of Legislation. standard drink definition, the ABV thresholds and the prescribed mark sizes
- Pregnancy warning labels – downloadable files and design elements — FSANZ. the PMS 485 red, black statement and white background specification
- The export approval process explained — Wine Australia. the 100 litre threshold, WALAS licensing and VI-1 certificates