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Wine Caucus in Washington DC
Thirteen world wine regions join to sign the
Declaration to Protect Wine Place & Origin

“THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST”

by Simone Zarmati Diament

To listen to a radio program on Wine Place & Origin
tune in to FOOD & WINE TALK WDNA 88.9FM Monday, April 23, 11:06 a.m.
or long on to www.southfloridagourmet.com / FOOD & WINE TALK 4/23/07

WASHINGTON, DC -- In March 2007, representatives from thirteen wine regions in the world gathered in Washington DC to protect place names and demand truthful wine labeling. Six signatories – Sonoma County and Paso Robles, California; Chianti Classico, Italy; Tokaj, Hungary; Victoria and Western Australia, Australia – added their names to the Joint Declaration to Protect Wine Place & Origin originally signed on July 25, 2005, by the seven founding members – Napa Valley, Oregon, Washington, Walla Walla Valley in the USA, Champagne, France; Porto, Portugal; and Jerez, Spain. “We welcome the other wine regions to the table. Their participation further demonstrates the growing global movement to protect wine place names,” declared Peter McCrea, the president of Napa Valley Vintners Association, one of the first charter members.
That Declaration was the end result of a Wine Accord, signed in March 2005, which recognized the existence of a problem with place name protection (i.e. misleading wine labels such as California Champagne, Oregon Port, or the use of Napa in labels of wine produced elsewhere.)
Consequently, in 2005, the California Supreme Court ruled that a wine labeled “Napa Ridge” was required to source its grapes in Napa Valley or cease to use the name on its label. In 2006, California Governor A. Schwarzenegger signed a bill that requires any wine with “Sonoma” on its label to contain at least 75% wine made with grapes grown in Sonoma County.
Another consequence of the Wine Accord negotiations were bi-lateral trade talks: the European Union declared Napa Valley a Geographical Indication (GI), making it the first wine region in North America to be recognized and protected in the European Union.

“The Importance of Being Earnest”
This is about The Importance of Being Earnest -- a tenet made famous by Oscar Wilde but first, and much earlier, in Ancient Greece, by the poet Aristophanes.
In the last three decades wine has gained importance as an industry and popularity among consumers in America, and the proliferation of wine regions around the world has filled stores’ shelves with an encyclopedic range of labels at competitive prices. So, where a wine comes from – its geographical and political location -- is an important factor in the decision to buy a particular bottle of wine.
“Place names on wine labels assure consumers of unique attributes and qualities associated with specific locations,” decreed Shannon Hunt, Director of the Center for Wine Origins which together with the Office of Champagne, USA sponsored a national poll in November 2006. "Great wines are made in unique places in the world,” added Bruno Paillard of the Comité Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne (CIVC). “A failure to protect the place names does nothing but diminish the credibility of our industry as a whole,” he concluded.

Wine excellence begins in the vineyard.
The style of a wine – its body, its aroma, its flavor-- depends not only on the grape or the blend of grapes but on what the French call terroir ( region, climate, soil where vines are grown, combined with the local wine making techniques). At the Washington DC caucus, each one of the winemakers representing their region stressed the importance of the concept of terroir: “Port is the first demarcated and regulated wine region in the world,” held George Sandeman of the Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e Porto (IVDP). “Hundred of years of winemaking history have taught us that the land, soil and climate of a region bear tremendous impact on the quality of a wine.”

All interested can sign the Wine Place & Origins online petition at www.protectplace.com Formed in 2005, the Center for Wine Origins is an active advocate group with the mission of place names protection.

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