Poland's new alcohol law: what actually changes for a small winery, and what has been banned for decades

PL: Przeczytaj ten wpis po polsku

On Thursday 8 October 2026 the Sejm, the lower house of the Polish parliament, passed an amendment to the 1982 Act on Upbringing in Sobriety, the law that governs alcohol advertising and sales in Poland. Within hours two stories were running in parallel: "winemakers won" and "festivals are over, delete your bottle photos". Rather than pick one, I opened the parliamentary prints, the voting records and the consolidated act, plus the comments of industry lawyers and organisations from the last two weeks. Here is what it means for a small winery with a website, a social media profile and the occasional bottle sold online. This is not legal advice, and the bill may still change in the Senate.

Where the bill stands

The final vote took place on 8 October 2026 at 21:34: 400 in favour, 29 against, 4 abstentions. Before that, 37 amendments from the second reading went through a vote. Most were rejected, but the wine package (amendments 2, 6, 8, 16 and 19, voted together) passed 274 to 159, and the distance-selling amendment (no. 10) passed 260 to 171. All of them came from the agrarian PSL party, and all had been recommended for rejection by the Health Committee.

It is not over. The bill goes to the Senate, then to the President. The planned entry into force is 1 January 2027, with longer deadlines for health pictograms on packaging. Nobody knows what survives the Senate. Anita Kucharska-Dziedzic, an MP from the Left and co-author of the bill, told regional media that the wine amendments "were badly prepared, will require notification and may have to be redrafted in the Senate". Bogusława Bukowska, head of the National Centre for Addiction Prevention, added that EU technical notification could delay the whole act. So: celebrate carefully.

What is actually new, and what has been banned for decades

The thing that gets lost in the headlines: most of what people are now afraid of has been banned for thirty years. The definition of advertising did not change by a word. Neither did the definition of promotion, apart from one sentence added for wine producers, discussed below. What was and is forbidden is public advertising of a specific drink, a specific brand, a specific producer. The words "wine", "tasting" or "vineyard" were never banned.

One row deserves its own paragraph, because it is easy to miss and only shows up when you put the new wording next to the consolidated text in ELI. The old article 13¹(9) exempted "advertising and promotion" carried out inside wholesalers, dedicated in-store stands, liquor stores and on-premise venues. The new wording exempts only "promotion", and only in wholesalers, outlets selling nothing but alcohol, and on-premise venues. The word "advertising" is gone, and so are the in-store stands. Is a label on a shelf "public advertising of a trademark"? Nobody reads it that way today. But there is an old Supreme Administrative Court ruling that treated a liquor shop window as part of the street rather than the shop, and industry lawyers point to it as a door left open for the future. For a cellar-door shop that also sells juice, preserves and souvenirs, whether it counts as an outlet "selling nothing but alcohol" is not a rhetorical question.

What wine producers got

The PSL package adds two definitions and two new articles. The definitions are worth knowing verbatim, because they decide what you can write on your website:

• Oeno-culinary event: a public educational, wine-tourism or culinary-tourism event, in particular a fair, festival, show, grape harvest or competition, during which informational-cultural content is disseminated through presentations, lectures, food-and-wine pairing demonstrations and paid or free tastings of wine products.
• Informational-cultural message: dissemination of historical, culinary, educational, cultural or tourism content relating to wine products, their tradition and heritage, which contains no elements encouraging the purchase or excessive consumption of alcoholic beverages.

A sentence was added to the definition of promotion: "informational-cultural messages and oeno-culinary events are not considered promotion". And "wine products" means what the 2021 Act on Wine Products says it means. This matters: the exemption covers not only grape wine but also cider, perry, mead and fruit wine. Craft breweries and small distilleries did not, and that is the most common objection from industry lawyers to this version: a small brewery is in the same position as a small winery, and the exemption does not reach it.

Then comes article 13¹(1b), the conditions under which a wine producer may communicate with the public without falling under the advertising ban. The communication must be aimed at adults and, at the same time:

1. be informational-cultural in nature and contain no sales offers or content encouraging excessive drinking,
2. carry a clear message about the harmfulness of alcohol,
3. in digital channels, use mechanisms restricting access by minors "using available technologies".

A new article 13^1b spells out what is allowed: information about the product, the production method, origin, dates of oeno-culinary events and invitations to tastings. What is not: sales offers or anything that rewards purchases. Tastings at events are allowed provided they involve wine products and a visible notice about the harmfulness of alcohol is displayed where the tasting takes place.

Your website and social media, in practice

After reading those three conditions my conclusion is: nothing needs deleting, but something needs adding. A harvest report, a description of a grape variety, the history of a plot, a photo of a barrel and an invitation to a tasting all fit inside "informational-cultural message". A post saying "Solaris 2025 on sale, PLN 45, link in bio" does not, because it is a sales offer. The line runs where an offer with a price and a buy link begins; most of what wineries publish today sits on the right side of it.

Two things most winery websites do not have today and the act requires: a clear harm message next to wine content, and some kind of age gate in digital channels. On a website that is a simple "are you 18" pop-up. On Instagram or Facebook it is the minimum-age setting on the profile. The provision says "using available technologies", so nobody expects ID checks at the door of a profile, but having no restriction at all will be hard to defend.

And the question that travelled furthest online, whether old posts and bottle photos must be deleted? There is nothing in the text that requires it, and industry lawyers call that interpretation extreme. The rules take effect in 2027 and do not apply retroactively. Reviewing old posts for price offers is sensible, but out of prudence, not panic.

Selling wine online

For a small winery this is the most concrete change. Until now, shipping alcohol in Poland lived on case law and clever shop terms. Amendment 10 writes it into the act as a new article 9⁷. A holder of a retail licence may sell at a distance under five conditions:

1. the buyer confirms their personal data, in particular date of birth, through the national electronic identification scheme (the same mechanism used to log in to government services),
2. the parcel carries a permanent "alcoholic beverages" marking covering at least 10% of its visible surface,
3. delivery no earlier than 24 hours after the order is placed,
4. hand-over only directly to the recipient, so no parcel lockers or pick-up points,
5. no hand-over to minors or intoxicated persons.

This applies to all alcoholic beverages, not only wine. Back in November 2024 the wine magazine Ferment reported that the Ministry of Health recommended banning online sales altogether, and Maciej Krystowski of the Polish Wine Chamber said that "selling online is our to be or not to be". Two years later the outcome is the reverse: not a ban but rules. This is also the article the addiction centre and the Left single out as needing EU notification, so its final shape is the least certain part of the package.

Harvest festivals after 22:00

The night ban covers only retail sales "for consumption off the premises", meaning shops. Restaurants, bars and hotels keep pouring. For producers the change is close to irrelevant, because hardly anyone runs a cellar-door shop after ten in the evening.

Winemakers in the Lubusz region, home of Poland's largest wine festival in Zielona Góra, see a catch. The city introduced its own night ban in October and exempted the festival. The act has no such exemption. Tytus Fokszan of the Lubusz Wine Chamber told the regional portal Wydarzenia Lubuskie that it is unclear whether wine by the glass may be sold at the festival after 22:00: "If not, we will have to end the party at 22:00." MP Elżbieta Polak replied that under the act night sales at the festival will not be allowed. In my reading the key phrase is "off the premises": a glass drunk at the stand is on-premise consumption, a bottle in a bag is not. But that is an interpretation, not a provision, and it is worth watching what the Senate says.

What the industry says, and what the government side says

Positions from the last two weeks, so as not to rely on a single voice:

• Polish Wine Chamber, Lubusz Wine Chamber, West Pomeranian Vineyards (appeal of 25 September, Trybuszon): without the amendments "the proposed provisions will lead to legal paralysis". More than 800 vineyards, 20% growth a year, half a million tourists at Lubusz wine festivals. After the vote Fokszan: "only the first step has been taken", the act was "outdated, impractical and patched for forty-odd years".
• Polish Wine Council (Magdalena Zielińska, Trybuszon): welcomes equal advertising rules for all categories, the PSL definitions, "the unambiguous admission of tastings" and the regulation of e-commerce. Eighteen months earlier the same organisation called the ministerial draft "a great disappointment", mainly because it left beer out.
• National Centre for Addiction Prevention (Bogusława Bukowska, Rynek Zdrowia): "the amendments allowing dissemination of certain content about wine products raise concern", and online sales may require notification and delay everything.
• The Left (Anita Kucharska-Dziedzic): winemakers "have had no problems with tastings, the wine village or the harvest festival since 1982", and the amendments "open the door to wines from all over the world". Poland 2050 (Maja Nowak): everything winemakers asked for could have gone into the new wine act, which "will reach the floor in a few weeks".
• Winemakers before the vote (Polsat News, 5 October): Joanna Grygier of Winnica Niewinne Siostry: "If this act comes into force, a 20-year-old vineyard will have no reason to exist." That was about the version without the amendments.

One thing follows from this list: the argument over "is wine heritage or alcohol like any other" did not end on 8 October. It moved to the Senate and to the promised wine act.

What this means for a 0.22 ha vineyard in Poland

For us, on twenty-two ares near Siedlce, the list is short and does not require waiting for the Senate:

1. Review the website and profiles. Separate information from sales. Where we write about wine, add a harm message and an age gate. Posts about varieties, weather and harvest stay as they are.
2. Do not order large label runs. Pictograms become mandatory only two years after the act is published, and stock may be sold through. But the label for the next vintage is better designed with room for three symbols from the start.
3. Prepare the shop for the new rules. Verification through the national e-ID scheme, 24 hours between order and dispatch, delivery into the buyer's hands only. If you sell through a platform, ask whether they plan to implement this.
4. Keep planning tastings and the harvest party. With a harm notice at the tasting spot and an invitation written as information, not as an offer with a bottle price.

Elf has a legal calendar where we enter deadlines from acts and regulations. We will add the dates from this amendment only after it is published in the Journal of Laws, because only then will the entry-into-force dates of individual provisions be known. Until then I will update this post if the Senate changes anything.

If you grow outside Poland, the interesting part is the pattern rather than the detail: a country with a total ban on alcohol advertising carving out "informational-cultural" communication for small producers, and writing distance selling into law with e-ID age verification and a 24-hour cooling-off period. Both are ideas regulators elsewhere are circling.

Frequently asked questions about Poland's alcohol law amendment

Short answers to the questions winemakers ask most often. As of 14 October 2026, after the Sejm vote and before the Senate.

Can a Polish winery show bottles and describe its wines on social media from 2027?

Yes, provided the communication is aimed at adults, is informational-cultural in nature (product, production method, origin, event dates, tasting invitations), contains no sales offers or encouragement to drink excessively, carries a clear alcohol harm message and restricts minors' access in digital channels. This follows from article 13¹(1b) and article 13^1b as adopted by the Sejm on 8 October 2026.

Do wineries have to delete old posts, bottle photos and wine reviews?

No. The adopted text contains no such obligation, and the rules take effect on 1 January 2027 without retroactive effect. Old posts are only worth reviewing for offers with a price and a buy link.

Will wine tastings at wineries and festivals be legal in Poland?

Yes. Paid and free tastings of wine products during oeno-culinary events (fairs, festivals, shows, grape harvests, competitions) are allowed, provided a visible alcohol harm notice is displayed at the tasting spot. Beer and spirits tastings stay under the old rules, meaning outside public space.

Does the wine carve-out cover cider, mead and fruit wine?

Yes. The act refers to the definition of "wine products" in the Polish Act on Wine Products of 2 December 2021, which covers grape wine, fruit wine, cider, perry and mead. It does not cover craft beer or spirits.

Will it be legal to sell wine online in Poland?

Yes. New article 9⁷ lets holders of a retail licence sell at a distance under five conditions: the buyer's age confirmed through the national electronic identification scheme, an "alcoholic beverages" marking on at least 10% of the parcel surface, delivery no earlier than 24 hours after the order, hand-over only to the recipient in person (no parcel lockers), and no hand-over to minors or intoxicated persons. This provision may still require EU notification.

Does the 22:00-6:00 night ban apply to wineries and wine festivals?

The ban covers only retail sales for consumption off the premises, meaning shops. Restaurants, bars and hotels are exempt. Whether wine by the glass at a festival after 22:00 counts as on-premise consumption is not settled in the act; Lubusz winemakers have raised it as an issue ahead of the Senate.

When do the new rules apply and what are the penalties?

Planned entry into force is 1 January 2027, if the Senate adopts the bill and the President signs it. Beer advertising on the old rules is allowed until 31 December 2027, and mandatory pictograms on packaging start 24 months after the act is published. Prohibited advertising or promotion carries a fine from PLN 30,000 to 1,000,000 or restriction of liberty.

Sources: Legislative process, print 2007 · Health Committee report, print 2856 (bill text) · Print 2856-A with the 37 amendments · Vote no. 156 of 8 October 2026 · Consolidated act, Journal of Laws 2023 item 2151 (ELI) · Wine industry appeal (Trybuszon) · Polish Wine Council comment (Trybuszon) · Polish winemaking: the home stretch (Trybuszon) · Wydarzenia Lubuskie on the festival after 22:00 · Rynek Zdrowia: addiction centre's position · Polsat News, 5 October · Ferment: Polish wine online, to be legalised (2024) · Radio Kulinarne Wine Podcast, episode 123 on the amendment (12 October 2026, in Polish)