History
Considering the extreme importance of Madeira Wine, the Autonomous Region of Madeira created the Madeira Wine Institute in 1979. Succeeding the Delegation of the “Junta Nacional do Vinho” (National Wine Council) on the island, the main mission of the Madeira Wine Institute was to ensure the convenient discipline with the production and commercialisation of Madeira Wine and, in general, to coordinate all viticultural activities in the Autonomous Region of Madeira.
Once the priorities had been set in terms of lines of action, the Madeira Wine Institute proposed and presented a series of measures and legal dispositions of administrative nature in order to adequate the viticulture, production and commerce of wine in the Region to the standards and demands of the then European Economic Community. As a result, during the years that followed a legal framework was in force and would discipline the vine and wine sector in the Autonomous Region of Madeira.
Internally, the Institute organised itself with the necessary services in order to respond to the requests coming from the economic agents of the sector and, at the same time, while, at the same time, complying to its role within the normative framework that had been created. The Services relating to Viticultural Promotion took it upon themselves to supervise and control the production and commercialisation of wines, implementing the registration of fermentation, distilling, rectification, preparation and storage facilities, establishing current accounts for inputs, outputs and stocks, collecting samples of wine to be analysed and issuing lead seals and certificates of origin.
Alongside the Services relating to Viticultural Promotion, another operative service was set up, no less important than the first. It was the Viticultural Laboratory, which was responsible for carrying out the laboratory assay and testing that was deemed necessary in order to issue bulletins that would lead to the respective certification. Besides the chemical testing of the wines, the Institute was concerned with having a Tasting Panel from the very beginning the members of which had to test the wines at the sensorial level and, through a binding advisory report, ensure their quality and that they were genuine.
The Wine, Embroidery and Handicraft Institute of Madeira, (Instituto do Vinho, do Bordado e do Artesanato da Madeira, P. I. - IVBAM) was created in June 2006. This new Institute is the result of the merging of the Madeira Wine Institute with the Madeira Embroideries, Tapestries and Handicrafts Institute and succeeds them in their policies of coordination, support, valuation, preservation and promotion of the vine, wine and handicrafts of Madeira. In the areas directly related to Madeira Wine, the competencies given to the Wine Sector Control and Regulation Services, the Viniculture Services, the Quality Support Services, wherein the Vitiviniculture Laboratory and the Promotion Services are located, are of fundamental importance.