The British Columbia Wine Authority is governed by a Board of Directors, all of whom are required to be completely independent of the wine and grape growing industries, and operations are managed by a team of staff members. As well, the Wine Authority operates a system of taste assessment panels to assess submitted wines and determine if they qualify for “BC VQA” status. These panels are comprised of trained taste assessors from the public who assess each wine by sensory evaluation, to ensure the wines are free from those potential faults.