Wine Law

7 European wine sector 14 —, the need for a substantial review of the legal framework on wine quality, with a view to strengthening the compliance of the quality approach with international law. It also hinted that it would be its priority to make sure that this new approach were “in line with the horizontal policy of quality”, based on protected designations of origin and on protected geographical indications. In short, the desire to extend the CAP mechanisms to the wine sector prevailed, abandoning the concept of quality wines psr, and shaping a system based upon designations of origin and geographical indications, as well as the respect to traditional designations. Trouble is that the concepts of designation of origin and geographical indication of wine that the Regulation (the original of 2008 and the current 2013 one) integrated differ from those established by the horizontal quality scheme. This led to a specific oversight scheme for wine running parallel, instead of it being subsumed into the general scheme laid down for all other farm products, as suggested by some scholars 15 . This would have appeared to be the sensible option if real cohesion and strength were to be provided to the scheme, albeit bringing in some specific elements for the wine sector. As that did not happen, countless duplicities in both Regulations sprang up. This duplicity in both schemes and norms will have to be attributed to the widespread view in Europe that the designation of origin for wine is much more sensible decision that in any other sector, which might prompt the diverse conceptualisation of the concepts under oversight. Anyway, this is the way the designation of origin is defined by article 93.1.a) of the 2013 Regulation, effectively using the same wording as the 2008 one did: 14 COM (2006) 319 final, of 22 June 22 2006 (paragraph 6.3.4). 15 CORTÉS MARTÍN, J. M. (2003), La protección de las indicaciones geográficas en el comercio internacional e intracomunitario , Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentación, Madrid, p. 338, where he stated, prior to the 2006 Regulation and the reform of the Common market organisation of the wine sector, that “de lege ferenda we believe we should contemplate a full-scale restructuring of the common protection system of geographical indications, including the wine and spirit drinks sectors pursuant to Regulation (EU) No. 2081/92. Bringing the recognition and protection of geographical indications fully under EU’s oversight would give rise to a more pragmatic all-inclusive approach, strengthening the Union’s position in the multilateral negotiations at WTO” (translated from the Spanish original).