Distillers face a law from 1917
Present-day distillers in Greece have to compete with their colleagues in Europe while facing obsolete, 107-year-old legislation.
They are not on equal terms, as the antiquated legislation that still largely governs the production of spirits, with provisions that have remained the same since 1917, when Law 971 on alcohol taxation was enacted, renders it prohibitive to make products with high added value that could generate more revenue and profits from sales inside and outside Greece. This means all distilling process is highly regulated.
So in the age of digitization and artificial intelligence, if a distiller wants to make a two-year aged tsipouro he must follow the following procedure: After producing the spirit and before putting it in a barrel or tank, he must first call the responsible official from the General Chemical State Laboratory to make an appointment. When an appointment is available, the chemist will visit the distillery, the spirit will be gauged in his presence and then placed in a barrel or tank for aging.
The vessel in which the spirit will be placed must be sealed with wax. In fact, at a very large company in the sector, during this process, the facilities almost caught fire in the process of melting the wax.
The distiller cannot unseal the container during the aging process to check the quality of the product, its organoleptic characteristics, the taste, except when he has to bottle it, with the unsealing again being done in the presence of a competent General Chemical State Laboratory employee. In other words, if the spirit has turned into vinegar he will only find out after two years.
This is not the only problem. According to law – last changed in 2001, but without being modernized – with the provisions of Law 971 of 1917 and the Royal Decree of February 1939 remaining in force, the produced spirits are recognized to have a loss of up to 2% within the month they were produced. If these spirits are aged, only a loss of 0.50% per month is recognized for the following months, and any more incurs a fine.
