Source register

How far each source has actually travelled

The ladder every source climbs, and how many are currently on each rung.

53 individual passages have been located and recorded, supporting 50 of WineHQ’s 61 registered claims.

What WineHQ tried to source and could not (23)

Every failed verification is recorded against the source that should have answered it, along with what was published instead.

The 27 CFR Part 4 thresholds — the minimum varietal percentage for a variety to appear on a US label, and the percentages required for a state, county or AVA appellation of origin and for a vintage date. — Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), US Department of the Treasury, 2026-08-15

Why not: Both the TTB AVA page and the eCFR text redirected or timed out on 2026-08-15, so no primary text was obtained. Published instead: Resolved on 2026-08-15 by a different route: 27 CFR Part 4 was retrieved through the Legal Information Institute and is recorded as source us-cfr-part-4 with four verified passages. This gap is kept rather than deleted, because the fact that the regulator’s own site would not serve its own regulation is worth remembering.

The exact ageing minimums for Roble, Crianza, Reserva and Gran Reserva in Ribera del Duero. — Consejo Regulador de la Denominación de Origen Ribera del Duero, 2026-08-15

Why not: The English homepage does not carry the regulatory detail; it sits in a legislation section that was not retrieved. Published instead: WineHQ states that Ribera del Duero operates its own ageing ladder using the same names as Rioja, and directs the reader to the label-term pages for the Rioja periods only.

The regulated minimum ageing periods and the formal definition of biological versus oxidative ageing. — Consejo Regulador del Jerez, 2026-08-15

Why not: The homepage signposts a production section whose detail was not retrieved. Published instead: WineHQ explains flor and the solera as mechanisms and states no regulated minimum period.

The minimum ageing periods for Brunello and Brunello Riserva, split between cask and bottle, and the release date rule. — Consorzio del Vino Brunello di Montalcino, 2026-08-15

Why not: The consortium homepage links a regulations section whose content was not retrieved. Published instead: WineHQ describes Brunello as requiring several years of ageing before release, including a substantial period in wood, without stating month counts.

The minimum drying period for appassimento and the minimum ageing for Amarone and Amarone Riserva. — Consorzio Tutela Vini Valpolicella, 2026-08-15

Why not: Not stated in retrievable text on the pages consulted. Published instead: WineHQ explains appassimento as a mechanism — dehydration concentrating sugar and flavour — without asserting a regulated drying period.

The list of UGA subzones and the rules governing when a Gran Selezione may name one. — Consorzio Vino Chianti Classico, 2026-08-15

Why not: The types page mentions UGA labelling for Gran Selezione without enumerating the units or their conditions. Published instead: WineHQ describes the UGA system as existing and applying to Gran Selezione, and names no individual subzone as authoritative.

Whether the light spritz associated with Vinho Verde is a regulated characteristic or an optional winemaking choice. — CVRVV, 2026-08-15

Why not: Not addressed in retrievable page text. Published instead: WineHQ describes the spritz as commonly added at bottling in the commercial style and absent from many serious Alvarinho bottlings, framed as a production choice rather than a rule.

The PDO and PGI specifications themselves: the proportion of fruit that must come from the demarcation, the permitted varieties, and whether hybrids are allowed in each category. — Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs / Food Standards Agency, 2026-08-15

Why not: The gov.uk publication page carries only a summary sentence; the guidance document behind it did not return retrievable text on 2026-08-15. Published instead: WineHQ states that the schemes exist, are administered by WineGB and enforced through Wine Standards, and states no percentage or variety list for them.

The Annex III sugar-content bands in grams per litre for each sparkling wine sweetness term, quoted from the regulation itself. — European Union, 2026-08-16

Why not: Retried in Sprint 3 with a sharper result. The regulation body is now retrievable — Articles 47 and 52 both read cleanly and both reference Part A of Annex III — but every HTML rendering returned truncates before the annexes begin. Three URL forms were tried: the CELEX HTML view, the same with an anchor into the annex, and the ELI dated version. The failure is therefore not "the document is unreachable" but "the annexes are not served in the rendering WineHQ can retrieve", which is a narrower and more actionable gap than the one recorded in Sprint 2. Published instead: The sweetness decoder publishes the seven terms in their correct legal order with the ranges described in prose, marked as approximate, and states on the page why no figures appear. The figures are widely republished in secondary sources and are deliberately not copied: a gram-per-litre band is a regulated requirement, and reproducing one from a merchant’s summary while citing the regulation would be laundering it.

The statutory text of the reformed Weingesetz, to state precisely which vintage each tier takes effect from and whether Kabinett, Spätlese and Auslese now require residual sweetness. — Federal Republic of Germany, 2026-08-15

Why not: Only secondary summaries were located, and they disagree about the transition timetable. Published instead: German label-term pages explain both systems, state that the origin pyramid is being phased in and that readers will encounter bottles labelled under either convention, and flag the Prädikat sweetness question as unsettled rather than answering it.

The Wine Standards guidance page setting out registration and record-keeping obligations for UK producers. — Food Standards Agency, 2026-08-15

Why not: Two candidate URLs on food.gov.uk and gov.uk returned 404 on 2026-08-15. Published instead: WineHQ describes Wine Standards as the inspection function behind the registration data and states no specific obligation on producers.

Per-variety passport records for each of the varieties WineHQ publishes, to confirm prime name and synonym lists individually. — Julius Kühn-Institut, Institute for Grapevine Breeding Geilweilerhof, 2026-08-15

Why not: VIVC serves per-variety data through a query interface whose result pages are not retrievable as static documents. Published instead: Synonym and parentage claims remain at corroborated tier, resting on agreement between VIVC as a registered authority and standard ampelographic reference works, rather than on a verified per-variety passage.

Current world vineyard surface area, production volume and consumption, to give WineHQ a dated global frame of reference. — OIV, 2026-08-15

Why not: The statistics landing page describes the publications rather than carrying the figures; the numbers live inside downloadable reports that were not retrieved. Published instead: WineHQ publishes no world production figures at all. A global statistic with no dated source attached is exactly the kind of number that becomes permanent and wrong.

The specific maximum limits the Code sets — for sulfur dioxide above all, which readers ask about constantly. — OIV, 2026-08-16

Why not: The overview describes the structure; the limits sit in a downloadable PDF that was not retrieved. Published instead: WineHQ explains what sulfites do and why they are declared on labels, and states no numerical limit.

A defensible sensory threshold for volatile acidity, to say at what point acetic acid stops being complexity and starts being a fault. — The Australian Wine Research Institute, 2026-08-15

Why not: The figure read from the table did not agree with the range generally reported elsewhere for acetic acid in wine, and the discrepancy could not be resolved from the page as retrieved. Published instead: The volatile acidity fault page describes the progression in sensory terms and states that the threshold is strongly matrix-dependent, without asserting a number.

A figure or table for the molecular SO2 fraction at given pH values, to support the statement that a low-pH wine needs less added sulfur for the same protection. — The Australian Wine Research Institute, 2026-08-17

Why not: This fact sheet covers addition and removal and does not address the molecular fraction at all. The AWRI acidity and pH FAQ states the pH relationship qualitatively but publishes no table. Published instead: WineHQ states the relationship qualitatively — that a given free SO2 level protects more effectively at lower pH — and publishes no figures.

The text of Merret’s paper, to quote the passage on sugar and molasses directly and confirm the date of presentation from the Royal Society’s own record. — The Royal Society, 2026-08-17

Why not: The Royal Society’s digitised archive was not reachable, and the Royal College of Physicians’ account of it returned HTTP 403. The claim currently rests on secondary scholarly literature already in the register. Published instead: WineHQ publishes the 1662 date and the substance of the paper on the authority of the Oxford Companion to Wine and the Comité Champagne, and does not quote Merret’s wording.

The list of varieties permitted in Alsace AOC and in Alsace Grand Cru, which differ. — Conseil Interprofessionnel des Vins d’Alsace, 2026-08-15

Why not: The homepage groups wines as sparkling, white and red without enumerating authorised varieties. Published instead: WineHQ names the varieties Alsace is known for and does not present its list as the legally authorised set.

Riesling’s share of total German plantings. — DWI, 2026-08-15

Why not: Not present in retrievable page text. Published instead: WineHQ states that Riesling is Germany’s most planted variety and gives no percentage.

Planted area by variety, to state how dominant Sauvignon Blanc is in New Zealand’s vineyard. — New Zealand Winegrowers, 2026-08-15

Why not: The homepage lists styles without production shares; the figures sit in an annual report that was not retrieved. Published instead: WineHQ describes Sauvignon Blanc as overwhelmingly dominant without attaching a percentage.

Research summaries on rootstock selection, climate classification and sensory method, to support the viticulture topics directly. — University of California, Davis, 2026-08-15

Why not: wineserver.ucdavis.edu returned HTTP 403 to automated retrieval on 2026-08-15. Published instead: Viticulture topics state mechanisms at the level the general scientific literature supports and are marked as corroborated rather than primary.

The current Systematic Approach to Tasting grid, to confirm that WineHQ’s ordinal vocabulary still matches WSET’s published scale. — Wine & Spirit Education Trust, 2026-08-15

Why not: wsetglobal.com returned HTTP 403 to automated retrieval on 2026-08-15. Published instead: WineHQ documents its own five-point scale with its own anchor descriptions in docs/taste-model.md and describes the vocabulary as following WSET’s widely used convention rather than as reproducing it.

The current planted share of each grape variety in Great Britain, to state how much of the vineyard is Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Meunier and Bacchus. — Wines of Great Britain (WineGB), 2026-08-15

Why not: The data page links a production report and a historic hectarage spreadsheet but does not carry the variety split in retrievable page text. Published instead: WineHQ describes the variety mix qualitatively — the three Champagne varieties dominate, with Bacchus the leading still white — and states no percentage.

Defining authority (66)

Bodies that define or regulate the subject. A claim about an appellation rule is checked here or not at all.

Strong secondary (57)

Substantial secondary authorities: research institutes, education bodies and established reference works.

How sources are used

• Regulated claims go to the regulator. Appellation rules, permitted varieties, minimum ageing and labelling requirements are checked against the body that sets them, not against a reference book’s summary of it.
• Facts are extracted, prose is written here. WineHQ does not reproduce source text. Where a source establishes a fact, the fact is recorded and explained in WineHQ’s own words.
• Disagreement is recorded, not resolved by preference. Where two authorities conflict, the claim is marked disputed and both positions are stated. The UK winery count on the England page is exactly this case: the trade body’s own pages give different numbers.
• External links do not pass authority. Outbound source links carry nofollow, which is a statement that WineHQ is citing rather than endorsing.

The full evidence policy →