Wine of Origin certification: the cellar records you need, from press to seal

In South Africa you may only claim an origin, a cultivar or a vintage on a wine label if the wine has been certified under the Wine of Origin Scheme (Notice No. R. 1434 of 1990, made under the Liquor Products Act, 1989, and amended many times since, including in March 2025). Certification is done by the Wine Certification Authority, the name the Liquor Products Act has used for the certifying body since the Liquor Products Amendment Act, 2021 took effect on 1 August 2023.

Most refusals and headaches have nothing to do with the wine in the glass. They come from a notice that wasn’t sent, a blend done without permission or a press register that doesn’t add up. This guide follows the scheme from vineyard to seal so you know which record is due when.

The three claims and their thresholds

• Origin (section 9): a wine of origin of a geographical unit, region, district or ward must be produced solely from grapes harvested there, with narrow exceptions such as sweetening must.
• Cultivar (section 10): at least 85% of the wine must come from grapes of the cultivar named. If cultivars are combined before, during or directly after crushing, at least 90% of the mass of the grapes must be that cultivar.
• Vintage (section 11): at least 85% of the wine must come from grapes harvested in the year stated.

A cultivar wine and a vintage wine must also be a wine of origin (except for alcohol-free, de-alcoholised and low-alcohol wines). Every one of these percentages has to be provable from your records.

Before harvest: vineyard status return and authority to press

Under section 15, anyone intending to press grapes for wine that will be certified must lodge a vineyard status return for those grapes and apply for an authority to press, on the forms provided. No vineyard status return, no authority.

The application for an authority to press must be lodged at least 30 days before pressing is expected to start (Wine of Origin Scheme, section 15(3)).

Separate applications are needed for grapes pressed for wines with different certified particulars. If you plan to combine cultivars or areas of production at the crusher, the application must name them and state how you will determine the mass of each before they are combined. An approved authority comes with a production sheet, on which you record the particulars the scheme requires.

At the press: notice and the daily press register

Section 16 sets out what the holder of an authority does during harvest:

• Notify the Authority at least one working day before pressing starts, with the production sheet reference, start date, cultivar, address of the cellar and whether the grapes are meant for special or noble late harvest, naturally dried grapes or a combination.
• Record each working day, in duplicate, the grapes pressed that day in an approved press register, with a separate page per authority.
• Determine and record the total mass of grapes daily, and weigh each cultivar or area of production on a calibrated apparatus before combining.
• Carry those masses onto the production sheet, and keep a wine record for the must, sweet reserve and wine from those grapes.
• Keep the press register at the cellar until the wine is certified or otherwise sold, and hand the original pages to the Authority on request.

Section 7 adds a condition that catches new cellars out: all tanks, casks and other containers used to make and store the wine must be gauged and marked with their capacity, to the Authority’s satisfaction.

In the cellar: volumes, transfers and blends

• Volume (section 18): determine the volume of wine and sweet reserve and record it on the production sheet and wine record on 1 June of the harvest year, or earlier — for wine, when fermentation is complete and it is taken off the lees.
• Transfers (section 19): must, sweet reserve or wine made under an authority may not move to other premises without written permission. The receiving party applies at least seven working days before the transfer, and transferred wine can’t be certified as estate wine (subject to the scheme’s exceptions). Bottling at another cellar can be covered by an exemption, with one working day’s notice per transfer.
• Blends (section 20): adding or blending must, sweet reserve or wine into certification wine needs written permission, applied for at least three working days ahead. Topping wine, and combining wines in the same cellar that could have been certified with the same particulars, don’t need permission. An approved blend comes with a blending and bottling sheet.

Particulars on the press register, production sheet, wine record, stock sheet and blending and bottling sheet must be recorded no later than the working day after the act took place (section 29).

That one-day rule is where cellars most often fall foul of the scheme. A rack, a blend or an addition written up at the end of the week is already late.

Approval: provisional, then final

Under section 25 you apply for provisional approval at least five working days before you need it. The Authority samples the wine and approves it only if your production sheet, stock sheet or blending and bottling sheet and wine record show the scheme was complied with, and if analysis and sensory evaluation by a tasting panel show the wine meets the legal requirements without unacceptable quality characteristics.

Provisional approval lapses six months after it is issued if the wine isn’t bottled in that time, or 12 months after issue if it was sampled already bottled or is bottled within the six months. Final approval (section 27) must be applied for before the provisional approval lapses; the wine is sampled again and must not differ materially from the first sample, and the approved labels and seals must be on the containers. Final approval is confirmed by a certificate authorising the particulars on the label.

Each certification seal carries an identification number through which, as Wines of South Africa puts it, everything from the pressing of the grapes to certification of the final product can be traced. Bulk wine for export is exempt from the container, label and seal conditions, but not from the rest of the scheme.

A checklist for the season

• Vineyard status returns and authorities to press lodged 30 days before pressing.
• Tanks and barrels gauged and marked.
• Weighbridge and calibrated scale ready; mass recorded per cultivar and area before any combination.
• Pressing notice sent one working day ahead.
• Press register and production sheets written up daily.
• Volumes determined by 1 June, or earlier when the wine is taken off the lees after fermentation.
• Transfer permission seven working days ahead; blending permission three working days ahead.
• Every cellar operation recorded by the next working day.
• Provisional approval applied for five working days ahead; bottling and final approval planned around the six- and 12-month lapse dates.

Keeping the trail in one place

The official forms are the Authority’s, and filling them in stays with you. What GrapeFlow does is keep the underlying trail tidy: harvest intake by block and cultivar, each lot’s tanks and volumes, racking, blends with their percentages, additions, analyses and bottling — so the origin, cultivar and vintage of every lot can be shown from block to bottle. GrapeFlow certifies nothing, isn’t affiliated with the Wine Certification Authority or SAWIS, and doesn’t issue certificates or seals.