Title 26, Internal Revenue CodeRelease 119-102
§5381 Natural Wine
Title 26 › Subtitle E — Alcohol, Tobacco, and Certain Other Excise Taxes › CHAPTER 51 — DISTILLED SPIRITS, WINES, AND BEER › Subchapter F — Bonded and Taxpaid Wine Premises › PART III — CELLAR TREATMENT AND CLASSIFICATION OF WINE › § 5381
Summary
Natural wine is juice or must of sound ripe fruit, made with cellar treatment the law allows, and containing no more than 21% weight of total solids. If its condition makes it substandard, it isn’t natural unless the problem is fixed.
Full Legal Text
Title 26, §5381
Internal Revenue Code, Source: USLM XML via OLRC
Natural wine is the product of the juice or must of sound, ripe grapes or other sound, ripe fruit, made with such cellar treatment as may be authorized under section 5382 and containing not more than 21 percent by weight of total solids. Any wine conforming to such definition except for having become substandard by reason of its condition shall be deemed not to be natural wine, unless the condition is corrected.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Editorial Notes
Prior Provisions
A prior section 5381, act Aug. 16, 1954, ch. 736, 68A Stat. 668, consisted of provisions similar to those comprising this section, prior to the general revision of this chapter by Pub. L. 85–859.
Amendments
1979—Pub. L. 96–39 struck out provisions authorizing removal for distillation of wine deemed not to be natural wine, destruction of such wine under government supervision, and transfer of such wine to premises in which other than natural wine may be stored or used.
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Effective Date
of 1979 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 96–39 effective Jan. 1, 1980, see section 810 of Pub. L. 96–39, set out as a note under section 5001 of this title.
Effective Date
Section effective July 1, 1959, see section 210(a)(1) of Pub. L. 85–859, set out as a note under section 5001 of this title.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
26 U.S.C. § 5381
Title 26, Internal Revenue Code
Last Updated
Aug 21, 2026
Release point: 119-102