Amarone and Recioto DOCG approved by Italian government
According to a press release published last week online by the Italian Agriculture Ministry, the DOCG for Amarone della Valpolicella (previously a DOC) has been approved by Italy’s National Wine Commission: “I am particularly proud,” said Minister Luca Zaia, “to be able to announce that [Italy's National] Wine Commission has approved recognition of Amarone della Valpolicella as a DOCG [designation of controlled and guaranteed origin]. This is the highest recognition of quality allowed by [Italy's] national and [EU] Community law and this extraordinary Italian agricultural product deserves it without a doubt. Such recognition is also owed to the passion of Amarone producers, who, over the centuries, have helped to establish this product in the Veneto, in Italy, and the world.” (Translation by VinoWire.)
A DOCG has also been approved for Recioto della Valpolicella. A DOC was also approved for Ripasso, which will now have its own designation, independent from Valpolicella (previously, the term ripasso could only be used a sub-designation for Valpolicella).
It remains unclear, however, what bearing the new DOCG will have now that new European appellations must be approved by EU legislators in Brussels. [Editor's note: VinoWire reader Angelo Peretti reports that as long as the proposal for a new appellation was made before the July 1, 2009 EU deadline, new appellations approved after the deadline will be allowed by EU legislators; the Amarone, Recioto, and Ripasso proposals were submitted to Rome before July 1.]
Other appellation modifications were approved in the commission’s recent meeting but Zaia’s statement did not specify as to their nature.
Filed under: News
Nice that Amarone finally has DOCG status. Let’s face it, Amarone is so famous that it doesn’t even need it. But given how many wines are now DOCG, it probably would have been embarassing if it had never received this classification.
I’m guessing that the producers finally figured out which zones will produce DOCG and which will not. Any news on that?
Glad also that Recioto della Valpolicella received DOCG status. It’s a wonderful wine that is so underappreciated. I doubt this will help sales, but if one more person wants to try it because it’s now DOCG- great!
Sicuramente verrà approvato sia dalla Commissione europea che dal Parlamento europeo.
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