The BCWA 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 BCWA 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, independent of the wine and grape growing industries, who assess each wine by smell and taste to ensure the wines are free from those potential faults.