"TESTED QUALITY IN THE GLASS": WINE QUALITY CERTIFICATION IN GERMANY

Wine is mostly sold in closed bottles that prevent buyers from inspecting their contents. This practiceturns wine into an experience good which buyers are unable to asses at the time of purchase. Inorder to reduce buyers’ information gaps, wine sellers provide information about the wine on one orseveral labels attached to the bottle. Wine buyers' problem then is to interpret this information andto assess its veracity. Institutional arrangements have emerged in Germany, as in other wineproducing countries, that standardize communication between wine sellers and buyers, and thatreduce the risk of wine buyers being misled by the information provided by the sellers. Coreelements of the institutions are (i) verifiable wine quality categories or grades, (ii) wine examinationby independent experts and certification of the information items provided by the wine bottler, and(iii) rules for the content and form of labeling information. Wines that satisfy all legal requirementsfor a quality wine are deemed to be "Tested Quality in the Glass". They are recognizable by a numberthat is issued for each wine that has passed examination; the number must be printed on the label.The objectives of this study are three: (i) to provide an English-language description of the Germanwine quality certification system, together with a summary of its legal basis; (ii) to describe analternative private wine certification system that has been grafted onto the pubic system, and (iii) toencourage readers to think about how datafication of wine and digitization of wine certification maytransform the "Tested Quality in the Glass" system. The study is of interest to all wine experts andscholars with an interest in wine certification, especially of German wines.