Wine Business and Law Flashcards
What is typically the highest cost of growing grapes and what are two ways to lower it?
Labor
Mechanization and seasonal workforce
What typically determines the price of a bottle of wine?
What the market is prepared to pay for it.
What are the greatest expenses associated with winemaking?
Equipment, also packaging, transportation and sales.
The amount of time a wine needs to mature and therefore the amount of money tied up in stock is a huge cashflow consideration.
What are the three main types of wine producers?
Estate - producer who makes wine from the grapes she grows. Also, Domaine.
Merchant - producer who makes wine from the grapes he buys. Also, negociant.
Cooperative - a producer who makes wine from grapes grown by a collective of growers who jointly own the winery.
What are three broad areas of wine law and examples of each?
Food safety, such as the regulation of the use of sulfites.
Label Integrity, such as GIs, varietal and vintage labeling.
Safe Consumption, pregnancy warning
What are GIs and what body regulates them?
A Geographical Indication is a designated vineyard area within a country.
The World Trade Organization has developed a system used by every major wine producing country.
Universally, what percentage of grapes must be from its stated GI?
At least 85% although there is some deviation from this standard and in the EU, PDO level wine must be 100%.
Into what two categories are GIs divided in the EU?
PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) and PGI (Protected Geographical Indication)
PDO are generally smaller and more strict, regulating such things as vineyard location, permitted varietals, aging requirements, vineyard management, winemaking practices, yields and more.
PDIs are larger and less strict but may also limit production and yields.
What is the greatest difference between EU and non-EU GIs.
Non EU countries have each developed their own GI systems, but don’t attempt to regulate the type of grapes grown in a particular GI or the style of wine produced.
