No L 8/38 Official Journal of the European Communities 10. 1. 87 COMMISSION REGULATION (EEC) No 63/87 of 9 January 1987 amending for the seventh time Regulation (EEC) No 997/81 laying down detailed rules for the description and presentation of wines and grape musts THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 337/79 of 5 February 1979 on the common organization of the market in wine ('), as last amended by Regulation (EEC) No 3805/85 (%), and in particular Article 54 (5) thereof, Whereas Council Regulation (EEC) No 355/79 (%), as last amended by Regulation (EEC) No 1625/86 (), lays down general rules for the description and presentation of wines and grape musts; Whereas Commission Regulation (EEC) No 997/81 (%), as last amended by Regulation (EEC) No 418/86 (), lays down detailed rules for the description and presentation of wines and grape musts; Whereas it has become apparent that table wines made from a blend of wines originating in various Member States of the European Communities sometimes have a label that may cause confusion in the mind of the consumer as regards the true origin of such wines, in particular where the overall impression given by the label recalls a product originating in a particular Member State ; whereas, to prevent such confusion, a minimum height should be stipulated for the lettering on the labelling on prepackaging of the words laid down to indicate that the table wines in question are a ‘blend of wines from diffe- rent countries of the European Community’; Whereas, to take account of practice in Greece, the inclu- sion of certain additional traditional terms used to denote certain quality wines psr and of certain terms used to denote the name of the vineyard holding where the wine in question was obtained should be provided for by alig- ning the rules on the use of such terms on those already accepted for other Member States ; whereas, however, in order to improve the understanding of these terms, it is desirable that such terms in Greek should be able to be supplemented by a translation into another language ; Whereas Regulation (EEC) No 355/79 makes the indica- tion of actual alcoholic strength on wine labels compul- sory as from 1 May 1988 ; whereas, in order to give the bottlers responsible for the labelling of wines a greater degree of flexibility as from that date, it is desirable to increase slightly the tolerances for the indication of the alcoholic strength ; Whereas experience has shown that certain consumers do not consider indications on the type of wine that refer to its residual sugar content, such as ‘dry’, ‘medium dry’, () OJ No L 54, 5. 3. 1979, p. 1. () OJ No L 367, 31. 12. 1985, p. 39. () O No L 54, 5. 3. 1979, p. 99. (4 OJ No L 144, 29. 5. 1986, p. 1. % O] No L 106, 16. 4. 1981, p. 1.. (9 OJ No L 48, 26. 2. 1986, p. 8. ‘medium sweet’ and ‘sweet’ to be sufficiently explicit; whereas provision should be made for indicating the resi- dual sugar content of the wine as determined by analysis to be indicated on the label; Whereas it is customary in Germany to indicate the density of grape musts in ‘Oechsle degrees’ ; whereas, in the light of this traditional practice, no further alignment with the Community system for measuring the density of grape must is possible for the moment; whereas the transitional period that expired on 31 August 1986, during which Germany could provide, in respect of grape must put into circulation on its territory, that the density should be expressed in Oechsle degrees, should therefore be extended for a further five years; Whereas Article 16 (4) of Council Regulation (EEC) No 338/79 (), as last amended by Regulation (EEC) No 3805/85, lays down that the name of a specified region may be used to describe a wine only if it is a quality wine psr; whereas the term ‘Madera’ is synonymous with ‘vinho de Madeira’ which describes, in accordance with the said provision, a quality wine psr ; whereas this results in a ban on putting into circulation in the Community imported wines described by the term ‘Madera’ ; whereas, to avoid cases of hardship caused by too abrupt a change in the rules in force until now, provision should be made for wines from ‘Madera County’ originating in the United States of America to be put into circulation during a tran- sitional period ending on 31 December 1988 under the name ‘Madera County — California’; Whereas certain producer Member States and Austria have supplemented their provisions on the use of terms relating to the type of wine and its method of production and concerning information on the natural wine-growing conditions in which the wine originated ; whereas provi- sion should therefore be made under Regulation (EEC) No 997/81 for the terms that may be used to indicate the abovementioned information on the labelling of wines ; Whereas certain Member States have accepted that wine may be prepackaged in containers such as metal cans, cardboard boxes or in the type of container known as ‘bag-in-box’ on which has been printed directly the infor- mation required for the labelling ; whereas the manufac- ture of such prepackaging is costly and large batches are ordered ; whereas, to avoid too large quantities of such prepackaging becoming unusable because certain infor- mation printed on that prepackaging is no longer compa- tible with Community rules as a result of those rules being amended, provision should be made for a transi- tional period of two years during which wine may continue to be put up in such prepackaging; Whereas, following the recent amendments of their provi- sions, Australia, Austria, Bulgaria and the United States of () OJ No L 54, 5. 3. 1979, p. 48.