CMO Reforms: Eurobureaucrats, please block the growth of DOCs before we lose count!
By now, even children know that as of August 1, 2009, the CMO (Common Market Organisation) wine reforms will transform our DOCs, DOCGs, and IGTs into PDOs and PGIs (even though they will not change the names we are accustomed to using for our appellations).
For some useful links on Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) and Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) and the status of CMO reforms, click here and here.
And everyone knows that the ability to issue new appellations (which have increased to an astronomical 470 in number) will pass from the Comitato Nazionale Vini (National Wine Committee) in Rome to Brussels.
In the meantime, we can expect that this passage of power will put an end to era that brought about an unhindered and counterproductive proliferation of appellations in Italy.
In the light of new regulation, although the current number of appellations should not be reduced (even though they could be regrouped), they should not be increased. Eurobureaucrats should adopt more rigorous and less “generous” criteria for the issuance of new appellations. And the Comitato Nazionale Vini and president Giuseppe Martelli should makes its evaluation of new appellation requests more selective and severe before sending them from Italy’s regional committees to Brussels.
What’s happening during these last days that separate us from the “fateful day” of August 1, 2009? We have been gripped by a “Last Days of Pompeii” attitude and instead of requesting modifications of existing appellation regulations before reforms take effect, requests for new appellations are being submitted with an urgency that would have seemed dubious even under the ancien régime.
Eurobureaucrats, save us before we drown in DOCs, DOCGs, and IGTs!
—Franco Ziliani
Filed under: News
[...] power to issue new appellations will pass from Rome to Brussels. I’ve translated and posted Franco’s editorial at VinoWire, including some useful links. Other alarmist bloggers have claimed erroneously that the [...]
[...] Currently, Montalcino producers must label their wines as Toscana IGT or Sant’Antimo DOC if they contain grapes other than Sangiovese. If approved, a Montalcino DOC would allow them to exploit the Montalcino “brand” in their labeling of so-called Super Tuscan wines. The proposed DOC is part of a greater push to create new Italian appellations before OCM reforms take effect in August 2009 and the power to issue new DOCs shifts from Rome to Brussels. [...]
[...] CMO Reforms: Eurobureaucrats, please block the growth of DOCs before we lose count! [...]
[...] CMO Reforms: Eurobureaucrats, please block the growth of DOCs before we lose count! [...]
[...] forward, the power to create appellations passed from member states to the EU. The deadline created a mad rush to create new DOCs and DOCGs in Italy. Beginning with the current vintage, all wines produced in [...]
[...] sommelier”The Italian DOC/G system does (and doesn’t) matter « Do Bianchi on CMO Reforms: Eurobureaucrats, please block the growth of DOCs before we lose count!The Italian DOC/G system does (and doesn’t) matter « Do Bianchi on Tempers flare at [...]
[...] In recent months, the Comitato Nazionale Vini (Italy’s National Wine Commission) has ratified the creation and modification of a number of DOCs and DOCGs. Many of these are the result of a frantic rush to apply for protected status before the EU overarching reform of appellation regulation came into effect in 2009. (The deadline for application was extended until August 2009 and you may remember VinoWire editor Franco Ziliani’s editorial “Eurobureaucrats, please block the growth of DOCs before we lose count!”) [...]