International Wine Technical Summit
Encouraging collaboration between technical experts and promoting sound science in wine trade since 2013.
About us
The International Wine Technical Summit (Summit) is a collaborative group of government and industry representatives who have an understanding of the technical issues surrounding wine production and trade.
The purpose of the Summit is to share best practices, and exchange ideas and experiences while fostering a collaborative environment in which to discuss:
- Sound science in wine regulation and enforcement, and
- Trade issues of a technical or scientific nature.
Background
The first Summit took place in 2013, growing out of an annual technical meeting started in 2010 between U.S. Government and industry participants. Both groups agreed that many topics also had value in the international arena. Accordingly, a new international forum was created for subject matter experts to discuss issues such as new and fit-for-purpose analytical methods, compliance testing and enforcement, quality laboratory results, relationships and collaboration between government and industry scientists, and trade barriers of a scientific or technical nature.
scope
The Summit focuses on the use of science in the development of regulatory and enforcement systems that impact wine trade, with the goal to stimulate possible collaborative efforts among technical experts in areas such as: Analytical method development, method performance, and laboratory quality; Technical or science-related trade issues; and Science-based policies for regulatory compliance and enforcement testing of wine. The Summit's deliberations are shared with other organizations, such as the World Wine Trade Group (WWTG) and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Wine Regulatory Forum (WRF). Some of the Summit's work is based on World Wine Trade Group's "Tbilisi and Cape Town Principles," a groundbreaking set of ideas for wine regulation.
Organization
The Summit is an informal and open gathering of government and industry wine technical experts and other stakeholders from around the world.
“The connections made with wine professionals from around the world were rewarding. We shared experiences & methodologies for the analysis of wine, in order to avoid barriers to international trade.”
What We've Achieved
- Several IWTS delegates produced the paper, “Harmonizing Expression of Measurement Results in Wine Analysis: Best Practices When Testing and Reporting Sugar in Wine”