As the EU reform of viticulture, winemaking practices, appellation regulations, distillation, and grubbing-up policies enters its final stages (2011 is the third and last year of the Common Market Organisation Reform that went into effect in 2008), the editors of VinoWire invite you to consult the English-language version of the EU legislation.

In particular, the text of Regulation (EC) 479/2008 should help to clarify the new system of EU regulation of PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) and PGI (Protected Geographical Indication) wines (see Title III, Chapter III, “Designations of origin, geographical indications and traditional terms”).

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!”)

Most recently, the Italian agriculture ministry announced the creation of a handful of new DOCs and DOCGs and it remains unclear how many new appellations and modifications will be ratified in the wake of the 2009 tsunami of applications.