Wine law
Wine laws are
Wine is regulated by regional, state, and local laws. The laws and their relative rigidity differ for
Some wine laws are established by local governments and are specific to that wine region, such as the 1954
History
The oldest known wine laws were created by the
In the
In the wake of the Great French Wine Blight, which led to much wine fraud to supplement diminishing supply, wine laws were created in France to combat fraud. The French wine legislation later evolved to the AOC system, and inspired common European Union regulations.
Comparative wine laws
European Union
In the European Union (EU), much of the wine law is common to all countries through the European Union wine regulations which is a part of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).[6] The CAP Wine Regime consists of a set of rules that govern the wine sector, with the aim of achieving a balanced and open market. The principal features are rules governing production, oenological practices and processes, classification of wines, a range of structural and support measures, detailed rules governing the description and labeling of wines, and imports from non-EU countries.[6]
In addition to regulations that apply to all EU members, each EU country has its own framework of laws which govern aspects of winemaking such as the percentage of a grape to be included in a wine labeled with that variety name.
United States
In the United States, the wine laws are more flexible than European standards in regards to regulations on what viticultural and winemaking practice are allowed in each wine region. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) defines and approves applications for regions to become American Viticultural Areas. This system was established in 1978 with the Augusta AVA in Missouri designated as the first recognized AVA on June 20, 1980.[9] A sizable portion of American wine laws relate to wine labelling practices and include the stipulations that if an AVA name appears on the label that at least 85% of grapes used to produce the wine must come from that AVA.[10] In addition to AVAs, every American state and county can produce wine and label it under their state/county wide appellation provided at least 75% of the grapes come from that area.[10] The state of California and Texas have wine laws increasing the requirement to 100% and 85%, respectively, for use of a statewide appellation on the wine label.[11]
The appearance of grape variety (or
See also
References
- ISBN 0-19-860990-6
- ^ "Wine Regulations: New World Countries." winegeeks.com.
- ISBN 1-56305-434-5
- ^ F. Prial. "WINE; Identified Flying Object." The New York Times, January 4, 1987.
- ISBN 0-19-860990-6
- ^ a b "Cap Regime and Reform." Department for Environmental and Rural Affairs.
- ^ "What's in a Name: Regionals, Varietals, Generics and Proprietaries?." CellarNotes.net.
- ^ "Wine Regulations: Old World Countries". winegeeks.com. Archived from the original on 22 March 2016.
- ^ Code of Federal Regulations Title 27, Volume 1 ALCOHOL, TOBACCO PRODUCTS AND FIREARMS
- ^ a b Crowe, B. (25 January 2013). "An Introduction to Appellations". The Society of Wine and Jurisprudence. Archived from the original on 20 November 2014.
- ^ ISBN 1-56305-434-5.