Italian winemakers met the New Year with some welcome news: the government announced it would lift the ban on producers from naming the place of origin of their wines. Previous regulations forbid winemakers from listing the provinces or regions where their wineries are found if these locations are already attached to wines with a protected designation of origin (Denominazione di origine controllata, DOC, in Italian). For example, a producer of Barbara d’Alba wine could not specify that his or her winery is in the Langhe zone, nor that it is found in the region of Piedmont, since both the Langhe and Piedmont are DOC zones. Carlo Petrini commented on the story last year.
On December 31, the Ministry of Agricultural Policies announced the possibility for producers to communicate on their labels, websites and other communication material the region and province where they produce their wines, even if this is registered as a DOC wine-producing zone.
Matilde Poggi, FIVI President
The measure follows action by the Italian Federation of Independent Winemakers (FIVI), which last September proposed that on January 1 its members across the country carry out a collective act of civil disobedience by listing the locations of their wineries on their websites.
A small battle has been won, but one that we hope is symbolic of the growing attention to the people behind the labels.