Prosecco awarded DOCG status

Published: 25 June, 2009

Prosecco producers are celebrating today after the region has finally been awarded DOCG (Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita) status after 40 years.

The new DOCG comes into force from the next vintage onwards and means only those sparkling wines produced from the Prosecco grape within the Conegliano-Valdobbiadene zone can be classified as Prosecco. Authentic Prosecco bottles will carry Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore on the label.

"The change to using just the name of the zone, which is our ultimate objective, has to be a gradual one," said president of the Producers' Consortium, Franco Adami. "In many countries around the world, Prosecco has become synonymous with a highly successful wine from Italy, and getting rid of this name altogether would be risky. The term Superiore, however, helps the consumer to understand right away that this is an example of the original Prosecco, the one from Conegliano-Valdobbiadene".

The Constortium will now embark on a major promotional and communications programme to publicise the changes which it hopes will help producers and customers alike benefit even more from the resurgence in interest in the grape as a result of falling Champagne sales.
The decision will impact 160 producers and more than 3,000 vine growers.

Adami added: "In 1969, when we obtained the D.O.C., the grape variety was grown exclusively in the fifteen communes lying between the small towns of Conegliano and Valdobbiadene. In the last few decades, thanks to the intrinsic characteristics of the product itself and the skill of the producers, Prosecco has become phenomenally successful and its cultivation has gradually spread, first throughout the Province of Treviso, and then to the neighbouring ones as well. Given this new situation, the risk for Prosecco was the absence of clear regulations that could guarantee a minimum level of quality, and there was also the danger of a growing number of speculative phenomena: strange-coloured bottles, rosé wines and so forth."

It is understood certain exceptions will be made to enable producersn based outside the region to continue to be involved with Prosecco providing they can prove they have been in involved in the authentic process for a substantial period of time and all grapes comes from the designated DOCG. Details will be released in time.

The region produced the equivalent of 57,434,000 bottles and a turnover of 370 million Euros.

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