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CAFIA inspectors found out during the past year that a large amount of wines had been placed on the Czech market, whose origin had been documented by classification decisions not issued by the CAFIA. These decisions on wine classification are false official documents and such wines are deemed to be of unknown origin.

Such conduct causes harm not only to consumers, but also to honest winemakers. More details can be found in the press release of the Ministry of Agriculture “SZPI odhalila v oběhu vína s padělanými doklady původu” of 4 May 2007 published on CAFIA website www.szpi.gov.cz.

When a winemaker wishes to sell quality wines, he or she must have them classified before they are placed on the market. In the case of quality wines labelled with traditional specific terms, grapes used for their manufacture must be, among others, officially verified for origin, sugar content, quantity and variety. In practice, this means that CAFIA inspectors take samples of wines which are subsequently analyzed and assessed for their sensory properties. The whole of this process takes place within administrative proceedings whose result is “decision on wine classification” issued by the CAFIA. The Inspection Authority thus has a very accurate database of wines that went through the classification process available.

The classification requirement applies to quality wines made from grapes grown in the territory of the Czech Republic. Quality wines, quality wines labelled with specific traditional terms, quality sparkling wines produced in specific regions, quality sparkling wines of the aromatic type produced in specific regions, quality sparkling wines, quality semi-sparkling wines and quality liqueur wines are classified.

Pursuant to Art 26(10) of Act No 321/2004 Coll., on viticulture and winemaking, as subsequently amended, sales description, quality reference number, batch, geographical indication of origin, vintage, and producer of wine is made public. All this information on wines classified since January 2007 is published on CAFIA website in the section “Víno”, subsection “ Rozhodnutí o zatříděných vínech”. The database can help producers, traders and consumers in verifying whether wines they bought were issued classification decision