Several weeks ago, I reported on decanter.com that a proposal to legalise adding water to must in South Africa was actually in breach of EU wine law.
The creators of the proposal, Wine Cellars South Africa, claimed that the proposal could come into law as early as autumn 2011. And, having met many winemakers in the Western Cape last week, it seems they also think it will be allowed next year. Guys, it won’t, so you’d probably better not do it or those nasty Wine of Origin inspectors will come and give you a hiding!
Yes, adding water to must to bring down alcohol levels is allowed in California but they have a bilateral agreement with the EU permitting this. South Africa does not have the same bilateral agreement and thus if you want to water down your musts in South Africa, you’ll be flouting OIV and EU rules.
I spoke to Su Birch, head of WoSA at the end of my trip to South Africa over a tasty glass of Chenin in Cape Town. She clarified things:
“There are some producers who only make wine for the local market and they want to be able to do this.” So, perhaps domestically this could be allowed (?) but the EU won’t have any of it.
Birch added: “It’s legal for Californian producers but we will have to negotiate. We would need to have a bilateral agreement and it would need to be passed by the OIV.” And this isn’t something that’s going to happen as quickly as next year.
“Good winemakers are never going to do it but it’s certainly a more natural intervention than, say, spinning cone.”
Current EU laws allow producers to reduce alcohol up to 2% using spinning cone technology.
I hope that makes things a bit clearer. In short, stay away from the black snake.
