Wines and wine sector products — protected designations of origin, protected geographical indications, traditional terms, labelling and presentation

KEY POINTS

Protection of designations of origin and geographical indications

• Protected designation of origin (PDO) identifies the name of a region, a specific place or, in exceptional cases, a country, used to describe a product whose quality and characteristics are essentially due to a particular geographical environment and which must be produced within a determined geographical area using recognised and recorded know-how. All wine products with PDO status must be produced exclusively with grapes from the area in question.
• Protected geographical indication (PGI) means an indication referring to a region, a specific place or, in exceptional cases, a country, used to describe a product which possesses a specific quality, reputation or other characteristics that can be attributed to that geographical origin. All products with PGI status must be produced with at least 85% of the grapes coming from the area in question.

Rules for PDOs and PGIs

The regulation sets out rules covering:

• applying for protection;
• the objection procedure — rules on the restrictions on the use of PDOs and PGIs where an objection has been made;
• amending a product specification;
• cancelling protection;
• use of symbols, indications and abbreviations — including the use of national logos and indications as well as derogations.

Traditional terms

Traditional terms are used to:

• indicate that the product has PDO or PGI status by virtue of EU law and the legislation of an EU country;
• designate a production or ageing method or a quality, colour or type of place or a particular event linked to the history of the product with PDO or PGI status.

Rules for traditional terms

The regulation sets out rules covering:

• applying for protection and the examination procedure — including the language and spelling of the terms, conditions of validity and scrutiny by the European Commission;
• the objection procedure;
• protection — including the relationship with trade marks, and homonyms¹;
• modification and cancellation.

Labelling and presentation

The regulation also covers rules for labelling and presentation covering:

• ‘compulsory particulars’ — in order to help consumers to better understand the specific character of wine sector products and to guarantee producers’ recognition of the quality of their products, labels of wine sector products must contain a number of items of information including:
  • the category of the wine product, as set out in Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013;
  • the term PDO or PGI for wines with those designations and the respective name;
  • actual alcoholic strength;
  • indication of provenance;
  • indication of the bottler, for sparkling wines the producer or the vendor, for imported wines the importer;
  • sugar content of sparkling wines.
• ‘optional particulars’ — this can include:
  • vintage;
  • grape variety(ies);
  • sugar content (for wines other than sparkling wine);
  • traditional terms for wines with a PDO or PGI;
  • EU symbol indicating a PDO or PGI;
  • terms referring to certain production methods;
  • terms referring to a holding.
• specific bottle shapes and closures.