Napa Declaration on Place
The Declaration to Protect Wine Place and Origin, commonly known as the Napa Declaration on Place, is a "declaration of joint principles stating the importance of location to wine and the need to protect place names."
The Declaration group brings together a diverse group of wine regions from multiple continents that compete with each other in the marketplace, yet agree that protecting wine place names worldwide is key to future of the quality wine world and to avoid consumer confusion. In 2011, the Declaration group released a poll of 1000 U.S. wine consumers with the following findings:
- 79 percent consider the region where a wine comes from an important factor when buying a bottle of wine;
- 75 percent report they would be less likely to buy a wine if they learned that it claimed to be from a place like Champagne, Napa Valley or Oregon, but in actuality was not;
- 84 percent think that the region a wine comes from is extremely important in determining its quality;
- 96 percent say that consumers deserve to know that the location where wine grapes are grown is accurately stated on wine labels; and
- 98 percent support establishing worldwide standards for all winemakers that would require that they accurately state the location where wine grapes are grown on wine labels.
The declaration was signed in July 2005 by five United States winegrowing regions and three European Union winegrowing regions.
The signatory regions from the US were:
The signatory regions from the EU were:
All wine regions signing the declaration pledged to work together to educate consumers about the importance of place and to protect the integrity of these names worldwide. It is the first such agreement among EU and U.S. winemakers and is seen as a step toward breaking down the "Old World vs. New World" focus in wine, replacing it with one that highlights greater understanding of where wine comes from all over the world.
The list of signatories to the agreement expanded in March 2007 when Sonoma County, Paso Robles, Chianti Classico, Tokay, and the Australian states of Victoria and Western Australia signed the Declaration at a ceremony in Washington, D.C.
In 2010, Rioja and Long Island added their signature to this effort.
On March 26, 2014, Santa Barbara, Bordeaux, and Bourgogne/Chablis became the latest signatories to the movement.
In addition, an invitation has been extended for winemakers from other wine-producing regions to sign onto the agreement.