Wine Law

3 In particular, Article 5 of Regulation (EU) No. 1151/2012 provides for the legal definition of DOs and GIs. Designations of origin are “ names which identify a product (a) originating in a specific place, region or, in exceptional cases, a country; (b) whose quality or characteristics are essentially or exclusively due to a particular geographical environment with its inherent natural and human factors; and (c) the production steps of which all take place in the defined geographical area ”. On the other hand, Geographical indications are “ names which identify a product: (a) originating in a specific place, region or country; (b) whose given quality, reputation, or other characteristic is essentially attributable to its geographical origin; and (c) at least one of the production steps of which takes place in the defined geographical area ”. From their legal definitions, it is easy to understand that the difference between them mainly consists in a different degree of connection of the product with the territory; deeper and with stricter requirements in the case of designations of origin and more elastic in the case of geographical indications. As a matter of fact, DOs strictly require that all the necessary productive steps shall be carried out in the relevant geographical area, whereas GIs require only one productive step in the relevant region. Moreover, Article 93 of Regulation (EU) No. 1308/2013 specifically refers to designations of origin and geographical indications in the wine sector, introducing some different requirements from the above-mentioned provision. In particular, wine PDOs shall be obtained from grapes coming from the same geographical area and from vine varieties belonging to Vitis vinifera , whereas wine PGIs shall be obtained from grapes coming, for at least 85%, from the same geographical area and obtained from vine varieties belonging to Vitis vinifera, or a cross between the Vitis vinifera species and other species of the genus Vitis . Furthermore, the entire production of wine PGIs shall take place in the same geographical area. This latter seems to be a stricter requirement, in respect to other PGIs. Finally, it is worth mentioning that the 15% of grapes, which may come from a different geographical area shall originate from the State, in which the protected geographical area is included. The analytical regulation, at EU level, depends on the awareness that wine sector constitutes a strategic asset for the entire Union and that the enhancement of the unique characteristics of historical and qualitative productions, such as the Italian, French and