Argentina is becoming renowned for its wine industry. The industry is young but booming and Bureau Veritas in Argentina is playing a part in this as it certifies the country's major wine producers.

Certification brings a good vintage
"Certified status shows a commitment to safety, which is important for both buyers and consumers," says Adrián Velazco, certification sales manager for Bureau Veritas in Mendoza, Argentina.
Increasingly, in Argentina, many wineries want to be certified by Bureau Veritas. Since 1998, the Certification Division of Bureau Veritas has worked in the wine growing region of Western Argentina, namely Mendoza and San Juan provinces. "We work with the wineries to verify quality and safety and to meet their certification needs. Our auditors have unrivalled expertise in wine certification services, which gives us a strong position compared to the competition," explains Adrián Velazco.

International standards
The main standards that wineries ask us to certify for are: ISO 22000 for food safety, HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points), BRC (British Retail Consortium) Global Standard for Food Safety and IFS (International Food Standard.)
Argentine wines are sold all over the world so there are many standards to conform to, depending on where they are exported. For example, if a winery wants to export to the UK, it must conform to the BRC certification while HACCP is required for exporters to the North American Market. These regulations are similar, as they all relate to safety and hygiene in production processes and continuous monitoring.

Other standards are voluntary. For example, achieving ISO 22000 demonstrates that a company has surpassed the minimum requirements for food safety.
"Many of our wineries also ask us to perform certification to ISO9000 standard for quality management, and this can be linked in with the ISO22000 standard. Different wineries will require different certification needs so we certify to a wide range of standards," Adrián Velazco tells us.

Confidence and recognition
"Certification brings confidence to the brand, and inspires confidence in the people who will buy the product. Many of our clients have won awards for the quality of their wines", says Adrián Velazco. We have served one of our award-winning clients, Bodegas López, since 2001. With over 100 years in the business, it is one of Argentina's oldest wineries. We recently completed certification to ISO 9001:2000 for their quality management system. The standard allows Bodegas López to better manage the entire production process as each activity is certified: from planting vines and harvesting grapes to bottling, packaging and export of the finished product. This helps the company to continuously improve and maintain the quality of its wines.

Getting closer to clients
"Most wineries in Argentina are in the Mendoza province, Western Argentina, but our head office is in Buenos Aires, some 1200 km (745 miles) away. This is why, in October 1998, we opened a technical office in Mendoza to serve this area and the neighbouring San Juan province, giving us a closer physical proximity to clients.  Now, Bureau Veritas has 48% market share in wine certification in the Mendoza province and we offer permanent technical and sales support to our clients," explains Adrián Velazco.

The importance of training
A major problem that wineries have is due to staff. As wine growing is a seasonal business, it is very difficult to have the same team of people working on the harvest and processing of grapes every year as this activity takes place over a few months each year. This lack of staff continuity adds to the problem of assuring quality. Bureau Veritas is working with the wineries in all matters related to ongoing training and support especially in relation to food safety issues.

Adrián Velazco concludes: "The results are encouraging, as all the major wineries in Argentina are working with Bureau Veritas. There are 1200 wineries throughout the provinces of Mendoza, San Juan, and Salta Nauquén. They are not all certified by Bureau Veritas, but as the wine industry grows and Argentine wines become increasingly popular, there will be more opportunities."

Please remember that the abuse of alcohol is dangerous.

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