December
23, 2008
CMO Reform:
Making Sense of It All
Italian Wine
& Appellations
Brussels, Belgium
December 23rd
On August 1, 2009 new label regulations will go into effect
in the European Union to comply with the Common
Market Organization Reform (CMO Reform). The draft of
the new requirements has been modified various times at the
push or request of each member country, causing quite a stir
of controversy and much confusion in the wine world on what
is to be expected in the coming months.
At the center of the controversy is the news that wine
labels will have to include the existing EU-approved protection
of origin seals currently used for food products—known
as DOP (Protected Denomination of Origin) and IGP (Protected
Geographic Indication)—a change reported so far by
the media based on very little available information from
the proper authorities. The approved DOP seal is expected
to be applied to wines made with 100% grape varietal(s)
grown in the designated area of origin, whereas IGP will
indicate that at least 85% of the varietals used are from
the referenced area of origin.
The good news, as reported today by the daily Il Sole
24 Ore, is that although the use of the DOP/IGT seal
of origin would be obligatory under the new CMO Reform,
it will not necessarily cancel out the use of the traditional
appellations that consumers have come to recognize from
the different EU wine producing countries. The new EU label
regulations is expected to allow the optional use of the
traditional wine appellation in addition to the standardized
DOP or IGP seal of origin—an option made at the discretion
of the producer, which makes one believe that the traditional
Italian DOCG/DOC/IGT appellations, the French AOC/Vin de
Pays, or the German Landwein will continue to live on well
after August 1, 2009.
Other major changes expected by the CMO Reform, that warren
further clarification, pertain to the fate of table wines,
as the new reform will now allow the indication of origin
on the label, and the introduction of “EU wines,”
or wines made by grapes grown in more than one EU member
country—the latter being the least welcome aspect
of the Reform.
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