Wine Origins Alliance Marks 20 Years of Global Wine Region Advocacy

International coalition of leading wine regions of the world commemorates two decades of protecting wine place names and working to eliminate barriers to trade in wine

WASHINGTON – The Wine Origins Alliance (WOA), a coalition of 34 winemaking regions from nine countries spanning four continents, marks its 20th anniversary on Saturday: a milestone in its mission to protect wine place names, eliminate trade barriers in the wine industry, and ensure consumers can be certain that the wines they love come from the regions they expect.

On July 26, 2005, a group of eight wine regions signed the Joint Declaration to Protect Wine Place & Origin in Napa Valley, demonstrating their shared commitment to protecting wine place names and understanding that wines from a particular region cannot be duplicated anywhere else in the world. Characteristics such as soil, climate, grape varietals and even winemaking traditions help make each region’s wines unique. From these fundamental shared values, the Alliance has since grown into a powerful global voice advocating for the dismantling of barriers to international trade in wine, including tariffs and non-tariff barriers such as the misuse of wine place names.

“Twenty years ago, Champagne came together with several of our peer regions to agree on founding principles that united us as a global industry,” said Charles Goemaere, board co-chair of WOA and Director General of the Comité Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne, one of the Alliance’s founding members. “We may be competitors on the market, but we all understand that our industry is stronger when we work together on important issues such as granting strong protection to the collective asset of winegrowers and wine traders: our wine place names.”

Today, WOA members represent nearly 100,000 wineries and grape growers that have generated more than one million jobs and more than $8 billion in global wine exports. WOA membership encompasses 34 organizations from nine countries, spanning Asia, Europe, North America and Australia; its newest member, Ribera del Duero, Spain, was welcomed to the Alliance this year.

“Two decades on, we remain as committed as ever to reducing the many trade obstacles that our shared industry faces and to ensuring that consumers know exactly where their wine comes from,” added Linda Reiff, board co-chair of WOA and President and CEO of the Napa Valley Vintners, another founding member. “By working together, the wine industry is well-equipped to remain resilient and innovate to meet challenges as they arise.”

Over the past two decades, WOA has educated policymakers and consumers on the importance of location when it comes to wine, championed the protection of wine regions’ identities, and fostered unprecedented collaboration among some of the world’s foremost wine regions. Its members have advocated directly with policymakers in the U.S., EU and around the globe on these matters and more. Among its accomplishments, the Alliance has:

• Opposed tariffs on wine as countermeasures in unrelated trade disputes, including those between the United States and European Union;

• Engaged with government officials in China and Mexico supporting efforts to protect geographical place names in agreements with the European Union;

• Championed the passage of bipartisan congressional resolutions in the United States (H. Res. 766 and S. Res. 649) that recognized the importance of American Viticultural Areas (AVAs);

• Led the International Organization for Vine and Wine (OIV)’s technical group on wine trade and contributed white papers and research to OIV matters as an observer member in the organization;

• Successfully gained protection of wine region names online;

• Supported members as they pursue further protection, including Napa Valley and Willamette Valley’s efforts to secure Protected Geographic Indication, or PGI, status in the European Union; and

• Discussed issues related to market access and trade barriers with members of Congress, representatives of the European Union, and officials at the World Trade Organization (WTO) and World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

“Most wine exporters are micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), and navigating the regulatory complexity of international trade alone is simply not feasible,” said Jacques-Olivier Pesme, Executive Director of the Wine Origins Alliance. “If a winery in Oregon or Bourgogne wishes to sell its wines in five countries, it has to deal with dozens of different regulations and obstacles to doing so. The Alliance will continue to pursue its mission to facilitate trade, protect wine place names, and serve as the foremost voice for trade advocacy among the global wine industry.”

For more information on the Wine Origins Alliance, its members, and its mission, visit www.origins.wine.