Submit Wine Authenticity Project Samples

We continue to ask for your participation in the ongoing Wine Authenticity Project, which focuses on ensuring a bottle of wine’s legitimacy, helps combat fraud and counterfeits and, most importantly, protects a wine’s integrity. With the help of submitted wine samples, a U.S. wine variety database is being created and will serve as a set of technical criteria for the global regulatory community to determine authenticity. Wine from specific producers or brands are not identifiable because participating wineries are anonymized through a double-blind submission process. Riesling samples are specifically needed. The current list of varieties accepted includes Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio/Pinot Gris, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Petite Sirah, Syrah and Zinfandel.

For additional information, members can go to the Wine Authenticity Project web page. Since the beginning of this project, about 3,000 samples have been collected from wineries in California, Oregon and Washington.

For smaller wineries submitting fewer than 20 samples annually, an alternative basic process has been established. This simplified method has reduced anonymity. The name of the winery submitting samples will be visible to ETS Laboratories upon sample arrival, although the confidentiality of the results will be maintained. Interested wineries should email phowe@winenmr.org to express interest and obtain instructions.