U.S. Government Changes Rules for Vintage Dates on Wines

For certain wines to be labeled with a year, the standard has been lowered

Daniel Sogg
Posted: May 3, 2006

As of this June, the vintage date on many U.S. wine labels will mean less than it once did--10 percent less, to be precise. The U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) announced on May 2 that wines bearing county, multicounty or state appellations such as Napa County, Central Coast or California, respectively, can carry a vintage date if 85 percent of the wine comes from grapes picked in the labeled year. The previous standard of 95 percent will continue to apply to wines with regional appellations, such as Napa Valley or Russian River Valley.

Despite some opposition, the TTB changed the rule in response to a proposal by the San Francisco-based Wine Institute, an advocacy organization representing more than 800 California producers. Practically every wine, other than non-vintage bubblies, Port and jug offerings, bears a vintage date on the label. However, vintage date standards vary from country to country: Australia and European Union members have an 85 percent baseline for the vintage date; Chile and South Africa require 75 percent. (Many of the appellation authorities within these regions nonetheless enforce more stringent requirements).

"Our membership believed that [the looser international standards] put us at a competitive disadvantage," explained Wendell Lee, Wine Institute general counsel. "There's also a technical aspect in that winemakers say that they can make better and more consistent wine with an 85 percent standard."

U.S. government authorities accepted that rationale, noting in the Federal Register: "TTB concludes that the current regulations for use of a vintage date on a wine label unnecessarily restrict the flexibility of wineries, especially when compared to the vintage date standards of many other major wine-producing countries."

This change comes in spite of objections from major industry players. The Napa Valley Vintners, a trade organization representing 270 producers, suggests that consumers will become confused if there is an 85 percent standard for some wines and a 95 percent minimum for others. The California Association of Winegrape Growers (CAWG), based in Sacramento, also opposed the change. "Wine is such a unique product because it reflects a year and a place. Any change that lowers those requirements will dilute that," said CAWG president Karen Ross.

There was also substantial dissension within the ranks of the Wine Institute. The initial proposal, first floated in 2000, was that the 95 percent vintage date standard should be reduced to 85 percent for all U.S. wines, including those bearing a regional appellation. The Wine Institute board of directors deadlocked on that proposal. There was even a suggestion, judged impractical, that federal authorities enforce a 95 percent vintage date standard for imported wines. The Wine Institute submitted the current proposal to the TTB in April 2005.