Spanish to redefine Wine Statute

Published: 23 July, 2008

Potential for confusion

The Conferencia de Consejos Reguladores Vitivinicolas wants to define the denominaciones de origen and their regulatory bodies as part of the forthcoming reform of Spain's Wine Statute. The deputy director general of the Ministry of Agriculture's Denominaciones de Calidad, has described the statute, which dates back to 1970, as "obsolete and out of date". The conference wants the new Ley del Vino to make the regulatory bodies legally responsible for the management, administration and control of the denominaciones de origen. The conference also expressed its concern about the potential for confusion among consumers over the use of traditional terms for ageing such as Crianza, Reserva and Gran Reserva by other types of wines not covered by the DOC. The Riojans have identified that one of the future challenges is to ensure that the consumer can distinguish between wines that are guaranteed by appellation. President of the Consejo Regulador de la DOC Rioja, Angel de Jaime Bar, speaking at the 75th anniversary of the regulatory board, highlighted the importance of such consejos reguladores in joining together to face up to the "growing number of lower level quality protection bodies which, in many cases, can lead to a degree of confusion".

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