|
The quality of wine: What does that mean?
Everyone has surely repurchased a wine, perhaps even a few bottles, because that first time it just tasted so good. If you open the wine a few weeks later there is sometimes a surprise: the wine tastes completely different than you remember. The best example for that is a bottle of wine which you brought back from a vacation to be able to have the same pleasure at home. But it often turns into a big disappointment as you were sure you had bought a good wine with good quality. This shows the difficulty in explaining the concept of wine quality.
When it comes to judging wine one’s personal taste and senses (smelling, tasting and seeing) play a decisive role. This means that a wine could have analytically – meaning the characteristics measured in the laboratory, whose maximum permissible values are usually determined by the lawmaker - good characteristics, but it still does not taste good. For a product with more than 1,200 components – such as wine - this is actually not astonishing. At Peter Mertes it is our goal to satisfy our customers with the wines we deliver and to ensure that our products fulfill the trust that has been put in us.
Quality Policy at Peter Mertes
Constant scrutiny of the quality of our products and our services is an essential qualification for our employees. With sustainable quality, environment and occupational health and safety management we try to deliver our products to the retail markets in a way that the legal restraints are fulfilled and the customers are satisfied. An empathetic response to the reaction of our customers plays as important a role as the continuous comparison test with our competition. For us, collaborating with external and independent surveyors and specialist laboratories are part of the daily routine. Integrated in the legal control equipment we strive to meet the demand of high quality standards of our customers at Peter Mertes.
Therefore, already before coming through our door, all wines are put through a series of strict quality tests. Several enologists as well as experienced cellar masters with varying specialties work together in the area of wine purchasing and cellar management.
We purchase wines from all over the world. We are working more and more with contract wine growers which allows us close contact with the producers and can already influence the quality of the wine in the vineyard. Our suppliers know that Peter Mertes will not accept any product that has been produced using GMO (Genetically Modified Organism) or is made from it. Our laboratory at Peter Mertes is officially recognized and is managed by a Scientist of Food Chemistry. We participate in officially recognized round robin testing to assure the dependability of our analyses, yet another sign of our quality awareness. Our bottling lines are equipped with the most modern technology which assures secure bottling and guarantees that the wines are hygienically filled and develop their full aroma. Only after thorough sensory and laboratory testing are the wines allowed to leave our premises.
Systematic Quality Management: The best guarantee for you
Quality management means more than the pursuit of product quality. It means a systematical ”screening” of the work processes in production and aims for transparency and safety during the production of the products. Quality management also means constructive contribution of all employees, the supply of all resources necessary through the company management as well as the application of advantageous procedures in cellar management and during the filling process. Maintenance and the enhancements of quality standards are a big challenge for the employees, but one that we gladly take on. Peter Mertes ensures the quality of its wines through a practiced quality management system with the goal of the largest customer satisfaction possible.
The basics for a quality management system form quality safety specifications which are internationally binding. Independent institutes verify our factory at periodic intervals. The resulting certification enjoys global recognition.
As early as 1996 Peter Mertes became one of the first enterprises in this sector to decide on an integrated management system according to DIN EN ISO 9001 and therefore implemented the standardized quality safety specifications in the entire production processes. Peter Mertes is currently certified according to IFS (International Food Standard) and BRC (British Retail Council). This means rigorous tests through external surveyors several times a year. To be able to guarantee maximum product safety we have developed an HACCP-System* which is constantly being updated and controlled by external auditors.
As a major marketer of organic wines we are also a certified enterprise licensed and entitled to use the ECOVIN symbol.
Peter Mertes currently possesses the following certificates:
IFS Version 5
BRC
Bio GfRS
Bio EcoVin
NOP (US National Organic Program)
With all the arrangements we undertake to guarantee quality safety the opinion of our customers is important to us. We are grateful for any critique and helpful suggestions.
* Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point
|
