Wine Law

15 the raw material that would be transformed into wine (grape) should originate mostly (at least 85%) in the geographical area defined; additionally, processing should be carried out in that same area. We should note that those requirements — albeit slightly measured — do relate to designations of origin. The inherent peculiarities of wine, as distinct from all other products, may not have to bring with them that the protection of a singular feature that connects the product to a geographical area should impose such requirements on raw materials and place of preparation. However, if that is the case, should we not stop applying the protection afforded by the geographical indication on wine? Anyhow, the divide that the Regulation defined between designations and indications is most blurry. If the disparity between those notions as far as the connection with the geographical origin is concerned as defined in the horizontal Regulation is almost imperceptible, it is even more so in the CMO Regulation for wine. We have already discussed that the great disparity between them lay in the fact that the designation of origin stipulated that all production stages should take place in the geographical area defined, whereas in the case of a geographical indication one of them being carried out in said area would suffice; by contrast, if in the Regulation for wine 85% of grapes should come from that area and wines should be prepared therein 24 , we should wonder whether allowing a 15% importation of raw material, the mixing of species within the same vine genus and a challenging assessment of the connection with the geographical area justify that binary concept of protection. I should conclude that, although I have previously showed some sympathy for the European legislator who opted for differentiating designations of origin from geographical indications, in the case of the wording of this wine legislation, their definitions being so bewildering, such differentiation should not prevail. Maybe the best 24 It might be worth noting here that the draft new CMO Regulation for wine that the Commission submitted to the Council in July 2007 [COM (2007) 372 final, of 4 July 2007] did not contain the requirement of the preparation taking place in that same geographical area. That requirement was brought by the Council into the 2008 text. It is striking that this proposal by the Commission did not contain such requirement for the designation of origin, in stark contrast — and somewhat unjustifiable — with the definition established by the horizontal Regulation).