The Law of Ukraine On Grapes and Wine
Date of entry into force: January 1, 2006
The present Law regulates legal relations in the area of viticulture and viniculture in Ukraine that deal with maintaining vineyards, growing grapes, and making wine and other products of viniculture.
The present law shall apply to legal entities and private individuals whose business activity includes production, sale, export, and import of commodities in the area of viticulture and viniculture. The present law shall not apply to producers of domestic grapes and domestic wine that are designed for personal consumption.
Grape plantations of industrial varieties and table varieties at farms of all types of ownership shall be subject to registration with a specially authorized central body of executive power in the area of agriculture.
It shall not be allowed to plant varieties of grapes that were obtained by way of interspecific hybridization (hybrids – direct producers). Un-zoned varieties and the abovementioned hybrids that are available in plantations shall be subject to replacement within fifteen years.
Write-off of vineyards of all types of ownership that were planted at the expense of government funds shall be organized and carried out by a specially authorized central body of executive power in the area of agriculture with mandatory recovery of areas under grape plantations.
The state inventory of vineyards shall be taken at least once in ten years.
For the purpose of producing wines, vermouths, cognacs, and brandy, producers shall use industrial varieties of grapes that meet requirements of the state standards and technical conditions. It shall not be allowed to mix European varieties of grapes with varieties of the sort Labruska and interspecific hybrids. Table varieties of grapes can be used for producing ordinary wines. For the purpose of producing wines, vermouths, cognacs, and brandy, producers shall use industrial varieties of grapes, if they meet requirements established for grapes of industrial varieties regarding their sugar content and regarding other quality indicators.
For the purpose of producing wines, it shall be allowed to process grapes withered on vine plants to bring the sugar content in the must to no more than 40 grams/100 cubic centimeters.
It shall be prohibited to use dried grapes (raisins) for the production of wines. Instances of violations of this requirement shall be viewed as counterfeited wine.
The products of viniculture shall be manufactured by subjects of entrepreneurial activity regardless of their types of ownership, provided they have a license. Every year, after the end of the vinicultural season, but not later than 1 December, enterprises engaged in grape processing shall provide a specially authorized central body of executive power in the area of statistics with information following the established format regarding the volumes of grape processing, manufacturing of wine materials in group assortment, use and residues of alcohol. Champagne wines, sparkling wines and carbonated wines can be produced in any region of Ukraine at the place where the relevant winemaking enterprise is located.
To produce wines and cognacs, producers shall use materials and substances that are allowed for such use by the Chief State Sanitary Inspector of Ukraine. It shall be prohibited to use imported wine materials that do not meet requirements of regulatory documents of Ukraine in the domestic winemaking industry. Wines produced from imported wine materials and according to foreign technological documentation shall be released under their generic names with the indication of the country of origin of wine and the place of bottling. It shall be prohibited to pass Ukrainian wines, cognacs and mixtures (blendings) involving foreign wines (wine materials, cognacs, cognac alcohols) off as foreign wines and cognacs.
Table wines shall be produced as natural wines or blended wines. It shall not be allowed to produce table wines with alcohol content below 9 percents of volume, graded wines with alcohol content below 9.5 percents of volume and vintage wines with alcohol content below 10 percents of volume. A specially authorized central body of executive power in the area of agriculture shall have the right to issue permits for the production of dry wine materials whose strength shall not exceed 9.5 percents of volume by way of sweetening the must with grape concentrate or sugar no more than by 2 grams/100 cubic centimeters. It shall not be allowed to add ethyl alcohol or fortified wine materials, or must to table wines.
Depending on their sugar and alcohol content, fortified wines shall be divided into: - strong wines that shall be produced from partly fermented must where the content of alcohol resulting from natural fermentation shall amount at least to 4.2 percent of volume; - sweet (dessert) wines that shall be produced from partly fermented must where the content of alcohol resulting from natural fermentation shall amount at least to 1.2 percent of volume; - dessert liqueur wines that shall be produced from partly fermented must where the content of alcohol resulting from natural fermentation shall amount at least to 1.2 percent of volume.
Alcohol content shall not exceed 20 percent of volume in ready-made strong grape wines, and 17 percent of volume in sweet (dessert) wines and dessert liqueur wines. It shall be prohibited to add sugar at all stages of manufacturing fortified wines. It shall be prohibited to add crude alcohol, industrial alcohol, fruit alcohol, or alcohols of unknown origin in the process of fortifying wine materials and wines.
Wines of controlled names by origin shall be approved by a specially authorized central body of executive power in the area of agriculture upon an application of wine-making enterprises.
Collection wines shall be sold in the same bottles in which they have been aging, without opening, uncorking or removing the created sediment. For research-and-production, as well as for commercial purposes, specific scientific institutions and wine-making enterprises shall create collection fund of wine samples (enotekas), standard samples that shall be national achievements of Ukraine.
It shall not be allowed to produce champagne wines with alcohol content below 10.5 percent of volume, sparkling wines with alcohol content below 10.0 percent of volume and carbonated wines with alcohol content below 9.5 percent of volume. The pressure of carbon dioxide in bottles with ready-made products shall amount at least to 350 kilopascals for sparkling wines and 200 kilopascals for carbonated wines at 20°C. It shall be allowed to produce specific sorts of wines weakly saturated with carbon dioxide with pressure in bottles exceeding 150 kilopascals at 20°C. Sparkling wines that have been subjected to technological ageing in bottles for at least nine months shall belong to the category of aged wines.
Ukrainian cognacs shall mean strong alcoholic beverages with a typical race and taste produced by way of blending cognac alcohols obtained with the help of distillation of cognac wine materials in special copper devices involving rectification that have been aging at least for three years in oaken containers or in non-corrosive or enameled containers with oaken staves. Ukrainian cognacs can be manufactured under their own specific names.
For alcoholic beverages that do not meet requirements established by the present Law for terms “cognac of Ukraine” and “champagne of Ukraine”, it shall be prohibited to use words “cognac” or “champagne”, words with the same root, related words, and accordant words in joint names and specific names of such products.
The body responsible for overseeing the adherence to requirements of the Ukrainian legislation in the area of viniculture and viticulture shall be the State Viniculture and Viticulture Inspection that shall function under a specially authorized central body of executive power in the area of food and processing industries.
Entities violating requirements of the Ukrainian legislation in the area of viniculture and viticulture shall bear disciplinary, administrative, criminal, and civil responsibility. Financial penalties can be applied to subjects of entrepreneurial activity that are legal entities.
Counterfeit of wines, vermouths, cognacs, and brandies shall be the reason for canceling the license for manufacturing and selling these products. Profits obtained from selling counterfeited wines, vermouths, cognacs, and brandies shall be withdrawn and transferred to the State Budget according to a judicial produce by bodies of the State Tax Service upon an application of the State Viniculture and Viticulture Inspection.