The Oregon Liquor Control Commission has approved new rules on wine labeling that were sought by the industry and represent the first major overhaul of wine rules in three decades.
The Oregon Winegrowers Association (OWA) petitioned the OLCC this spring to update the agency’s Division 10 labeling rules to “reflect the needs of today’s wine industry.” When Oregon’s wine rules were initially adopted in the 1970s, there were fewer than three dozen wineries, mostly in the Willamette Valley; now there are 340 located throughout the state. The OWA said the rule
changes would address issues that place some producers at a “disadvantage in the marketplace.” One key amendment to OAR 845-010-0915 expands a list of seven Bordelaise grape varieties to 18 warm-climate varieties with a requirement that 75 percent of the wine’s volume must come from a single grape variety to use its name on the label. This change is aimed at wine producers mostly outside the Willamette Valley.
However, the majority of Oregon wines will maintain the requirement that at least 90 percent of a wine’s volume be derived from a single grape variety to use its name on the label. For example, to use “Pinot noir” on a wine label, 90 percent of the wine’s grapes must be Pinot noir. Also, the OLCC listing of approved grape varietal names was eliminated; instead growers will go by the federal Alcohol & Tobacco Tax & Trade Bureau’s (TTB) list of approved grape varieties. The TTB is the approval agency for all wine labeling.
Under OAR 845-010-0920, the percentage of grapes that must be grown in a particular appellation of origin to use that appellation on the label is reduced from 100 to 95 percent. An amendment to OAR 845-010-0920 adds language to allow American Viticultural Areas (AVAs) in both Oregon and an adjoining state to use whichever state’s minimum percentage requirement is least restrictive.
Representatives of the wine industry and growers from every area of the state participated in the formulation of this rule.
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