Wine Law

Australia, Canada, Chile, Georgia, New Zealand, South Africa, Uruguay and the United States, representing 30% of world wine exports. 3. A Difficult Legal Framework It seems quite apparent that wine production fits within the constitutional rights, which cover all legal and commercial activities (Art. 14 National Constitution) taking place in the territory, as long as they are developed respecting the environmental rights (Art. 41 NC) and preserve the consumers’ rights (Art. 42 NC). The wine business legal system is not consolidated within a single legal text, but by a score of national laws and decrees, several resolutions issued by the National Wine Growing Institute; and, of course, provincial and municipal regulations. Moreover, this fragmentation is obviously affected by general regulations, such as the Consumer Protection Act or the Civil and Commercial Code itself. The usual approach the Law takes in order to understand the wine´s world has always been the Agrarian Law 10 , which is quite appropriate due to its economic and productive slant. Apart from being a value chain, this activity has an impact on nature (i.e. on air, on soil and, mainly, on water). That said, maybe the Christian analogy between blood and wine helps us express the difficulty we come across when we, as observers, are part of what we observe: the Agrarian Law does not always cover for political or cultural implications; there are restrictions to vines, production quota or constraints to growing regions; and we finally noticed that wine matches our food, our festivals, our folklore and that it clearly represents a touristic hallmark. All these circumstances exceed the legal view we often try to harness with the wide wine industry. Likewise, let us analyse, in a chronological way, the complex legal body, starting with its cornerstone, Law 14.878 11 (also known as General Wine Law ), issued in 1959, under Don Arturo Frondizi’s management. This law regulates, and has regulated since its entry into force, the 10 Diaz Araujo, Edgardo & Iuvaró, María José. Vitivinicultura y Derecho . Bs. As Dunken, 2006. 11 Castiñeira de Dios, Enrique. Régimen legal de la Vitivinicultura . Bs. As. Ediar, 1999, 2 nd ed.