Wine Law

27 preamble noted the “appreciable divergences in the wine-growing policies pursued by different Member States at a national level” and then set out four main provisions, following what each country was expected to establish: 1) a vineyard register, 2) a central authority to keep track of annual production levels, 3) strict rules regarding quality wines produced in specified regions and 4) to compile annually future estimates of resources and requirements. 4.2. PDO and PGI in Italian law In response to Regulation No 24/62, Italy established its own system of granting quality wines: the Denominazione di Origine Controllata (DOC) status, which was based on the region of origin 46 . In this context, Italy began to pass a more organic set of laws regulating the wine sector in parallel with the formulation of the directives that would be adopted by the European Community. Thus, Royal Decree of 1 July 1926, No. 1361, was completely redesigned by Presidential Decree of 12 February 1965, No. 162, which established stricter and more specific regulations on the production, distribution and marketing of wine products in preparation for the forthcoming directives that were going to apply to all EEC member countries, including Italy. At the same time, the first comprehensive set of rules on wines with designation of origin was approved, on 17 July 1963, with Presidential Decree No. 930, which, to this day, serves as the basis of Italy’s legislative provisions on PDO and PGI wines 47 . In late 2016, the long Italian winemaking tradition was finally regulated with the coming into force of the Act of 12 December, No. 238 ( Organic set of rules on the cultivation of grapes and wine production and trade ) 48 , which, having been approved after several years of debate, aimed to be an organic collection of the aforementioned earlier 46 A comprehensive survey in L. Costato, P. Borghi, & S. Rizzioli, Compendio di diritto alimentare , CEDAM, 2019. 47 For a general overview of trademarks and geographical names in Italian law, see L. Costato, A. Germanò, & E. Rook Basile, Trattato di Diritto Agrario , vol. III, chapter 13, UTET Giuridica, 2011. 48 The Act of 12 December 2016 No. 238, laying down a comprehensive set of rules on the cultivation of vines and the production and trade of wine (as amended by the Legislative Decree of 30 December 2016 No. 244, converted into the Act of 27 February 2017 No. 19, the so-called “ Testo Unico del Vino ”, i.e. “ Consolidated Law on Wine ”) has provided for many decrees of application (i.e. pieces of subsidiary legislation) aimed at completing the regulatory framework with the implementing provisions of the principles and requirements contained therein.