Wine legislation - proposed amendments: consultation analysis

Consultation questions

We asked

1) will the proposed changes on ice wine have a positive or negative impact on your business:

2) will the proposed changes on oenological practices have a positive or negative impact on your business:

Respondents who answered the question regarding their role in the wine sector primarily identified as an ‘individual’ so no responses were received from organisations. 3 respondents gave permission for their responses to be published so these have been published on Citizens Space.

Ice wine

For the first question there were 5 responses, 4 replying there would be no impact and 1 saying a positive impact.

Scottish Government will introduce rules that govern how products marketed as 'ice wine' must be produced. The ice wine definition will enable the UK to comply with international obligations, including the future accession of the CPTPP (Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership) agreement. This change would mean products can only be marketed as ice wine, icewine or a similar variation of these terms if produced from grapes harvested when frozen on the vine.

Analysis

Respondents generally thought the reform would have either no impact or a positive impact. When asked to explain response, the comments received were ‘I am not involved in the UK wine trade other than as a consumer and wine enthusiast’ and ‘there are none in Scotland’.

Government view

Scottish Government will proceed to introduce the restriction on the use of the term ‘ice wine’ and similar terms to enable the UK to accede to CPTPP in 2024.