Wine and safeguard: from 2023 the State stamp for the DOC wines of Pantelleria and Primitivo di Manduria

The State stamp for Doc wines is not a legal obligation, as it is for the Docg. However, in the vision of some producers and Consortiums, it can become an element of competitiveness, protection of the wine’s origin, and consumer reassurance in the face of a vast offer such as that of wine on the shelf. As a result, an increasing number of Consortiums are choosing to include it also on wines with Controlled Denomination of Origin. And so, from 1 January 2023, they will have the state stamp both the Primitivo di Manduria Doc wines, protected by the Consortium led by Novella Pastorelli, which oversees one of the most important wine territories of Puglia (and which concludes a path already started which involved the “third brother” of Manduria Dop, the naturally sweet Docg, and therefore, from January 1st, all types of Primitivo di Manduria will have the State stamp, ed) and those of the Doc wines of Pantelleria, as established by the young Consortium, led by Benedetto Renda.
“The choice traces out an obligatory path aimed at the maximum protection of our denomination - said the president of the Consortium of Primitivo di Manduria novella Pastorelli - which represents one of the fundamental tasks of our activity thus completing a process that will allow us to trace all the phases of the life of our productions that begins in the vineyard, continues with the transformation of our excellent grapes to reach the phase of passage into the bottle and the release for consumption, with a view to raising the level of traceability of our Primitivo di Manduria and anti-counterfeiting to the maximum while providing the maximum guarantee to the final consumer. Our choice bears witness to a regeneration process carried out by a system of companies - currently, there are 67 member companies and 160 bottlers - which set out to bring the work of the winegrowers, the beating heart of the wine, into a glass of Primitivo di Manduria viticulture, the particularities of a native vine and its own endogenous system. It is a heritage of acquired innovation and competitiveness that must be protected from agro-piracy attacks, and our wine is vulnerable to imitation - Pastorelli concludes. The purpose of introducing the State stamp is to protect our wine both in Italy and abroad”.
“While the use of this certification system is only required for DOCG wines, it is also true that it is now part of the heritage of the most prestigious Italian DOCs. The Consortium of Vini di Pantelleria - commented president Renda - strongly wanted to make this step, which in addition to combating counterfeiting and protecting consumers, is a tangible sign of quality for the wines of the black pearl of the Mediterranean”. And, according to Gaetano Aprile, director of Irvo, the Istituto Regionale Vini e Oli of Sicily, which will manage the issue for Pantelleria wines, the adoption of the label for Doc wines “is undoubtedly a step toward quality, and I hope that we can also move toward the Docg, which would further enhance the distinctiveness of the Pantelleria product, given the increasingly stringent disciplinary requirements”.