A new national standard for wine products is likely to be issued this year, in a bid to further regulate the domestic wine market.

"The currently national standard was drawn up in 1994 and is no longer applicable in the already changed wine market," said Gao Meishu, director of the wine branch of the China Alcoholic Drinks Industry Association.

Related government departments, industry associations and enterprises jointly revised the current standard, referring to the requirements of the OIV (Organization Internationale de la Vinge et du Vin), an intergovernmental organization concerned with the scientific and technical aspects of wine.

"It is expected to be published in the first half of this year," said Gao, whose association was involved in drafting the new standard.

According to her, the draft of the new standard -- GB15037-2004 -- is now under the final examination of the Standardization Administration of China.

Compared with the current standard, the new one will clearly define different types of wine products, especially special ones like ice wine.

It also has more requirements on ingredients such as the content of additives.

In addition, there will be stricter regulation on marking the origin and year of production of wine products.

"Following the prohibition of half-juice wines from last July, higher requirements will help improve the quality of domestic wine products and better regulate the wine market," Gao said.

Most domestic wine products could currently meet the new standard, but some small wineries need to improve their production technology and improve the quality of their wines, she said.

"Some small wine makers are likely to be forced out of the market if the new standard is compulsory."

So far, it remained undecided whether the new standard will be compulsory or merely recommended, but Gao's association is trying to urge the standardization committee to make it mandatory.

They hope that this would sharpen the competitive edge of China's wine-making industry.

"We are happy to see that the new standard is coming soon," said manager of the technology department of the Tonghua Grape Wine Co Ltd, surnamed Guo.

She expected that the new standard will come into force as soon as possible.

The industry has been discussing the drafting of a new standard for more than three years.

"From the technical aspect, the new standard will not affect our production, but a more regulated market will benefit Tonghua as well as other wine makers, by providing us a fair-competing environment," Guo said.

She added that with the more specific regulation, it will be easier to cultivate more wine consumers and thus create a bigger market.

During the past few years, China's wine production has remained stable.

According to statistics from the China Alcoholic Drinks Industry Association, from January to November last year, the country produced some 316,000 tons of wine, but the figure for the whole year is unavailable.

While in 2003, the total output was 350,000 tons, accounting for only about 1 per cent of the country's total alcohol production.

Such a small figure shows there is huge development potential for the wine-making industry.

(China Daily March 3, 2005)