Marty Clubb has been making the wines at L'Ecole No. 41 in Washington's Walla Walla Valley for 18 years, and he's never had a customer ask him how many calories were in a glass of his Merlot.

But now the federal government wants all wine, beer and other alcoholic beverage labels to carry nutrition information, a requirement that means additional costs to the industry.

"I'm not so sure a lot of the small wineries know what is coming down," said Clubb, who also is president of the Washington Wine Institute. "Our industry has a lot of mom and pop businesses, or sideline businesses, and it's really difficult to keep up with the changing laws."

A forum to educate area winery and brewery owners about the proposed labeling changes will be held in Prosser from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. Dec. 6 at Washington State University's Irrigated Agricultural Extension Center.

The regulations being proposed by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) concern Wade Wolfe, owner and winemaker for Prosser's Thurston Wolfe Winery. He believes the regulations may be expensive for small wineries and that the required information may squeeze other useful information off the label.

"The (proposal) really has questionable value to the consumer," he said.

But it was consumer groups that pushed for the nutrition labels. In December 2003, the Center for Science in the Public Interest, the National Consumers League and 67 other groups petitioned the TTB to change the labeling regulations for alcohol to list nutrition information. In April 2005, the TTB said it was proposing new alcohol labeling requirements and seeking public comment.

The public comment period was extended twice and TTB has received about 19,000 comments.

"This isn't happening in a vacuum," said Alex Heckathorn, owner of Compliance Service of America, an Oregon-based consulting firm that specializes in local, state and federal licensing and regulation for the alcoholic beverage industry. "It was widely publicized and there's been quite a bit of activity for a number of years."

For the region's wineries, the most worrisome part of the proposed regulations is the cost of testing, expected to be about $250 per variety.

"I make 12 to 14 different products a year," Wolfe said. "So for me that adds up to about $3,000 a year for lab tests, which I consider to be substantial. Then I have to redesign my label and resize it to fit the information."

But Heckathorn said testing likely won't cost as much as winery owners fear. In the first place, the state already requires alcohol content listing on the label. "So if they are already testing for alcohol, they don't need to do it again and can exclude that cost," he said.

That should cut the cost by about half. And if a winery produces a consistent variety each year with grapes of the same sugar content, it's likely the wine won't have to be tested year after year, Heckathorn added.

However, blended wines likely would need annual testing and handcrafted beers would face the same requirement.

Kerry Ringer, an extension enologist and assistant food scientist for WSU in Prosser, said the regulations are still up for debate and many winery owners are unaware the regulations are coming. She said the TTB has extended the public comment period to Jan. 27 and wants to hear from small businesses that would be affected.

Ringer hopes the December forum will answer questions and encourage local winery operators to comment on the regulations.

The forum will include an overview of the proposed rules by Heckathorn and an expert panel will discuss the issue and answer questions. Panelists will include Heckathorn, Wolfe, Clubb, Jessica Just of Scott Laboratory, and Casey McClellan, winemaker for Seven Hills Winery in Walla Walla. Jim Harbertson, an assistant food scientist at WSU's Prosser Ag Station, will be the moderator.

For more information, call Ringer at 786-9324. Information on the proposed regulations, Docket ID: TTB-2007-0062, is at www.regulations.gov.