OIV, stands for Organisation (formerly Office) Internationale de la Vigne et du Vin, the Paris-based intergovernmental body which represents the interests of vine-growers, and the wine, drying grape, and table grape industries of its members, 46 different countries (Armenia, the newest member, joined in 2014), including all the important wine producers. It was established in 1924, during prohibition in the United States, charged with demonstrating the beneficial effects of wine consumption, as well as co-ordinating research and nomenclature and upholding high standards of production. It continued its work, with the benefit of diplomatic immunity, uninterrupted during the Second World War. Today it is more concerned with the wide spectrum of scientific, technical, economical, and social problems involving the vine and all its products. The OIV co-ordinates research, gathers statistics, and publishes books, papers, and journals, including the important Bulletin de l’OIV, not just on viticultural and oenological matters, but also on legal and economic aspects of wine production. The OIV also co-ordinates conferences to discuss the issues regarded as most pressing by the world’s wine producers. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, topics included the possibility of increasing commercial controls as an indirect result of health concerns, and the increasing importance of ecological issues. More recent concerns have been various pests and diseases, climate change effects, bulk wine, environmental impacts, and sustainability. Since 1986, the OIV’s educational branch has offered an International Diploma in Management of Wine and the Vine, a master’s degree taught in English and French while travelling around the world of wine.
