THE CMO WINE REFORM DOES NOT CHANGE THE STATUS QUO FOR EU VITICULTURE, BUT THE HISTORIC ORDER OF ITALIAN WINES RISKS BEING CANCELLED. THE ADDITION OF VARIETAL NAME AND VINTAGE ON TABLE WINE LABELS COULD CAUSE CONFUSION FOR THE “QUALITY PYRAMID”

The European CMO (Common Market Organization) wine reform that will go into effect on August 1, 2008, is decidedly geared towards conservation, postponing the resolution of the root of the problems for European wine. Nevertheless, there are a few comforting efforts towards transparency, like the formalizing within the EU of a ban on vinifying and/or mixing wines and musts that come from other countries, as well as the more unscrupulous practices that are allowed in the New World.
This theme, often confronted on the website www.winenews.it, was also one of the central debates at Vinitaly 2008.
But looking more closely at the reform, there is a measure that risks causing confusion in the structure of Italian wine, with possibly large repercussions. The measure in question is the introduction of labels on table wines that will include the grape varietals used and the wine’s vintage, which is definitely useful information for consumers, but which could also cause confusion for the “quality pyramid” established by Italian law 164/1992, the law that frames the Italian wine sector.
The logic behind this change is that, at a European level, denomination wines will become connected to territory while table wines to varietal, bringing the system closer to the DOP/IGP model, which safeguards the origin of a territorial product.
If, on the one hand, this will to simplify a tendentially complex system (and not without its contradictions) appears to be an effort worth standing behind, but, on the other hand it risks dangerously lowering the distance between VQPRD wines (quality wines that are produced in a specific region) and IGT (Typical Geographic Indication), further increasing confusion. For the European Commission, therefore, the rules for organization, production and presentation of VQPRD wines will be very similar to those for DOP/IGP wines, while deferring many of those for table wines.
Currently, IGT wines have a less rigid discipline to follow in respect to DOP wines, but with the new CMO wine reform IGP wines will have the same rigorous controls that DOP wines have. This could translate into an excessive rigidity for one type of production (IGT), which, historically, had been created in Italy to give added value to the geographic area without, however, being forced to follow all of the regulations necessary or denomination of origin wines.
The European proposal foresees that all member states will institute the legislative dispositions necessary to conform to the new procedures by, at the latest, August 1, 2009. This signifies that the base law for Italian denominations (164/92) must be modified within a year after the CMO reform goes into effect.
Currently, there is still no definitive text for the new CMO and, therefore, there could still be some adjustments made, and even further variations. Below, is a list of some of the other measures present in the new CMO reform:
Grubbing-up: A three-year voluntary grubbing-up scheme for a total area of 175,000 hectares with a decreasing level of premium over the three years. A Member State can halt grubbing-up if the area would be more than 8 percent of that Member State's total vineyard area or 10 percent of a region's total area. The Commission can halt grubbing-up if the area reaches 15 percent of a Member State's total vine area. Member States can also exclude grubbing-up in mountain and steep slope areas and for environmental reasons.
Planting rights: these are to be phased out by 2015, with the possibility to continue them at a national level until 2018. Chaptalisation: this is limited to 3% in northern European countries, 2% in central Europe (France and Germany), and 1.5% in southern countries, plus a 0.5% in cases of particular climatic conditions.
Aid for the use of must: must aid may be paid in its current form for four years. After this transitional period, expenditure on must aid will be transformed into decoupled payments to wine producers.
Budget: Italy will be able to count on the application of 251.3 million euros the first year the reform goes into effect, which will pass to 376.4 in 2015. Transfers to rural areas will be reduced: funds will be reduced from 400 to 150 million euros within the EU.
National financial envelopes: these will allow Member States to adapt measures to their particular situation. Possible measures include: promotion in third countries, vineyard restructuring/conversion, modernisation of the production chain, innovation, support for green harvest, and distillation crisis management measures that can be adopted for four years. From the fifth year, alcohol obtained from distillation will receive aid only if used for industrial or energy reasons.
DOC/IGT: for these wines it will become mandatory that the entire winemaking process is computed within the region of production.