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Math question: If you’re feeling like having some Prosecco and your friend wants a rosé, how many different wines do you need? This is one of those happy instances where 1 + 1 = 1. Introducing Prosecco Rosé—though not soon enough for this past summer, unfortunately. If you’re not shocked by this development, maybe it’s because […]
While establishing wine laws that apply to the entire European Union in the early 2000s, the EU did not see a future for the DOCG quality level in Italy’s national wine law—but the Italians definitely did. As it played out, the EU chose not to kill off the DOCG right away, hoping it would go […]
Posted December 10, 2016 For years, the main trend in Italian denominations has been to go smaller—creating subzones and MeGAs (menzioni geografiche aggiuntive), spinning off subzones as new more-defined DOCs or DOCGs, or upgrading one style of wine (grape variety, riserva, etc.) to mini DOC or DOCG status on its own. It seems that in […]
Gran Selezione and New Labeling Terms Posted June 11, 2015 For a three-century-old denomination, a lot has been going on in Chianti Classico lately. Much of the activity follows from a major scientific study known as Chianti Classico 2000, which spent 16 years (1987–2003) doing experiments in the vineyards to determine what “best practices” means […]
Posted May 19, 2015 Fresh from creating a new quality level (gran selezione) for their wines, the producers of Chianti Classico are now contemplating another way to distinguish the best of their wines from the rest of the pack. Taking a cue from Barolo, Barbaresco, and a few other regions, Chianti Classico is thinking about […]
Posted August 10, 2014 With the Nizza DOCG nearing reality, Italian Wine Central interviewed some leading producers of Barbera d’Asti DOCG Superiore from the Nizza subzone about the future of this region. The participants were Stefano Chiarlo, winemaker at Michele Chiarlo; Luca Currado, winemaker at Vietti; Erika Abate, export manager for Bersano; and Ignazio Giovine, […]
Posted May 28, 2014 Under the new European Union wine law that went into effect in 2008, DOC and DOCG were technically lumped together in the new quality wine designation of DOP (PDO in English). Everyone studying for a wine test breathed a sigh of relief, because they wouldn’t have to memorize the growing list […]
Posted November 8, 2013 Trebbiano is the second most planted grape variety in Italy. Or is it? The answer depends on how liberal your definition of Trebbiano is, because there are several different subtypes of Trebbiano around Italy—and it appears that most of them are not really related. [Ed. note: Since this article was written, […]
After frenetic jockeying for position in 2011, the music stopped Posted July 31, 2013 In 2008, the European Union officially began the process of “normalizing” agricultural policy throughout the EU. Translation: Regulatory control of agriculture was to be taken away from the member countries and consolidated within the European Commission instead. For the wine industry, […]