Wine Law

26 What else may be found on the label of a bottle of wine? Several elements, such as the vintage year and the name of one or more wine grape varieties. In some cases, the sugar content may be included and, in the case of wines with a PDO or a PGI, the above mentioned traditional terms and possibly the Union symbol indicating the PDO or PGI. Moreover, the designation for the category of the grapevine product – is the product a wine or is it a liqueur wine? – and the terms referring to specific production methods should also appear. Finally, for wines bearing a PDO or a PGI, the name of another geographical unit that is smaller or larger than the area underlying the designation of origin or geographical indication (see, in general, section 2.7, and section 4.5., for the Italian case). 4. The Italian Case 4.1. Domestic law on wine labelling and packaging The history of wine in Italy – as in the rest of Europe – is a very long one. It should come as no surprise, then, that the history of labels started (without going back to the Egyptians) when each producer was making his own labels, without worrying about what information he really had to provide to the consumer. In 1962, when the European Council adopted the first regulations on the common agricultural policy aiming to establish a single market for agricultural products and of financial fitness through the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF), Regulation No 24/62 45 laid the foundation for the common market in wine. The 45 EEC Council: Regulation No 24 on the progressive implementation of a common organisation of the market in wine (author’s translation from the Italian: CEE Consiglio: Regolamento N. 24 relativo alla graduale attuazione di un’organizzazione comune del mercato vitivinicolo ).