Wine Law

BRIEF NOTES ON VENEZUELAN WINE LAW 513 aspect of Venezuelan’s life. The consumption habits of the majority of the population have changed, which, of course, has affected the market for alcoholic beverages in general and wines in particular 11 . Nevertheless, we do not hesitate that, when a political change occurs, the national wine industry will be able to develop to its full potential and transcend national borders. The growth of the Venezuelan wine industry must be accompanied by a legal development that currently does not exist. Today, Venezuelan wine law consists of few scattered rules with a general scope. For this reason, this paper aims to show such shortcomings, thinking about a future restructuring that benefits the national industry. Thus, after taking a brief look at the history of wine in Venezuela, the paper will focus on three types of rules: tariff and fiscal law; trademark law; and, finally, the rules protecting wine consumers. I. WINE IN VENEZUELA The Dictionary of Food and Gastronomy in Venezuela defines wine as “an alcoholic beverage made from the juice of squeezed and fermented grapes” 12 . This concept coincides with the one accepted in the Law on Taxes on Alcohol and Alcoholic Species 13 which, in its Article 14(6), refers to wine as the product of the alcoholic fermentation of the grape juice or must. The fundamental component of this drink – the grape – was brought to Venezuela by the Spanish. However, fermentation techniques were not unknown to Venezuelan aborigines. As reported by Pedro Cunill Grau in his Geohistory of Sensitivity in Venezuela , when Columbus on his third trip reached the shores of the Gulf of Paria, he found fermented beverages made from several kinds of corn, and he referred to them as “wine of many ways, white, red, but not grapes” 14 . A similar observation is attributed to Americo Vespucio, who affirmed: “And in peace, we went ashore with the boats, and they received us with great love and took us to their homes where they had very well-prepared the production of grapes has seen little affected, the transfer of personnel has been the biggest inconvenience. There is difficulty in obtaining products that are not produced in Venezuela for both viticulture and wine production, in: http://elsommeliervenezolano.blogspot.com/2020/07/covid-19- nuevos-horizontes-en-la.html. 11 In August 2020, the inflation for alcoholic beverages reached 20,4%, in : https://datosmacro.expansion. com/ipc-paises/venezuela?sc=IPC-ByT. 12 Cartay, Rafael & Elvira Ablan, Diccionario de Alimentación y Gastronomía en Venezuela , Caracas, Empresas Polar, Universidad de Los Andes, 1997, p. 294. 13 Special Official Gazette No. 6.151, 18 November 2014. 14 Cunill Grau, Pedro, Geohistoria de la sensibilidad en Venezuela , Caracas, Empresas Polar, 2007, Tomo II, p. 478.