Russian senators approve the law on viticulture and winemaking

During the final meeting of the autumn session the Federation Council approved the law on viticulture and winemaking.

The document is aimed at improving the quality and competitiveness of Russian-made wines. It is expected to become the basis for the industry.

The law introduces a new concept - "Russian wine" - a drink, including stiff and sparkling wines, made entirely from grapes grown in the country. It also determines what is considered fake.

In addition, the document introduces the definition of the “wine” concept - it says that it is edible alcoholic agricultural wine products with ethyl alcohol content from 7.5 to 18 percent, made exclusively as a result of fermentation of fresh grapes or grape must.

The law prohibits the processing or use of imported grapes, wine and grape must. Thus, the document may put an end to many years of disputes on how to limit the use of foreign wine materials: some proposed to completely ban their import, others advocated the introduction of duties.

If signed, wine producers and sellers will need to bring to the attention of consumers information about the variety, place of origin and year of grape harvest from which the wine is made.Moreover, for grape products more than 22% they will have to indicate that this is not wine and place it in a separate section of the store.