“WITH DOP AN IGP TAKING THE PLACE OF DOC, DOCG, AND IGT, THESE NATIONAL ACTORS WILL NOT LOSE THEIR AUTHORITY. THE DENOMINATIONS WILL REMAIN AN ITALIAN PATRIMONY”. COMMENTS BY GENERAL DIRECTOR OF FEDERVINI, OTTAVIO CAGIANO ABOUT THE NEW WINE CMO

The new European wine CMO (Common Market Organization) that foresees the introduction by 2009 of the DOP and IGP denominations that will substitute the current systems of denomination in the European Union, has created alarm and worry among Italian wine associations. “The European Union” – explained the general director of Federvini, Ottavio Cagiano – “adheres to the global market agreements, within which there is a specific chapter dedicated to intellectual property and the ways to protect the denominations of origin, therefore the European Union is not doing other than applying this type of scenario. It started with food products, when it gave the DOP and IGP, and now this formulation also passes on to the wine sector”.

“The rules are more complex in the wine sector” – continued Cagiano – “because it is a sector that already has a normative framework, both at a national and European level, with rules founded on its disciplines and on some common definitions like determined regions or geographic indications. This must be brought back now to this new scenario, so that it does not deny authority to national actors. However, it is necessary to have rules made together and that are identical so that the product that bears the denomination of origin seal has common bases in both Italy and France, as well as in newly adhering countries where enology is growing”.

What do you think of the alarm raised by some associations of the category on this aspect of the reform?

“First of all” – explained Cagiano - “as with all changes, above all when it refers to sensitive materials, treasures, and a part of the Italian national patrimony, it is normal that there is a reaction and worry and increased attention. This said, it is clear that it cannot be assumed that the EU and the principles of international commerce are working to destroy this.
I don’t believe the fear that denominations will disappear is a concrete thing. The denominations will remain, the discipline systems, even though they will be reviewed and the approval system will be discussed, it will remain within the national discipline. The last formal act of recognition of this complex of activity in which men, territories, and enterprises are involved and which give a particular prestige to wine, both IGT and DOP, will be communitary, that is it will be with a communitary vote that will become concrete with enrollment on the European registry. Personally, I see this as reinforcement. While, today, the denominations are national, tomorrow, the denominations, though still Italian, because it is not that Brunello di Montalcino or IGT Sicilia will become a European patrimony, but they will be recognized as communitary denominations and geographic indications”.

What will the role of the National Wine Committee be within this new framework? “The Committee will have to have a new configuration of its framework for activities linked to this new scheme, therefore it will not be the second-to-last passage before the determining of the decree by the Ministry that sanctions a denomination because it will be the passage at an international level for the recognition, but the discipline will still be Italian. We can look at what’s happening with olive oil, cheeses, and fruits and vegetables: this DOP and IGP system has already been applied, the denomination and the geographic indication is recognized with a European regulation, but in the discipline, there is the will of the Ministry, the operators, the regions, and interested parties. In this sense, the Committee will have to redesign its role, because there must always be a common national scheme”.

At a European level there is also talk of a sort of “European” DOP for wine. What do you think of this?

“Here, we are moving out of the field of denominations as we have known them and how the consumer knows them, and we are entering a nearby field where it is easy to create confusion among consumers but, regardless, we are still in the field of an indication of origin. Today, we already have something of this sort in a certain sense. We don’t have to imagine that it will arrive only in the future. Just think of the product that is created out of a type of wine originating in communitary countries that must have a label stating “origin: various communitary countries”. In a certain sense it does not mean other than “European wine”. However, imagining a discipline, and therefore a logic of the denomination of origin, where one says that the grapes can be from Spain, Luxembourg, and Italy and that the product obtained is called “European Union” or “Europe”, I see this as much more complex from a discipline point of view, and not very useful for the market because the consumer would not know how to imagine this product, and I don’t even see its usefulness for large offers because it would still have to say something more. And, therefore, we return to the great debate, when one speaks of products with indications of origin where it is written “vineyards from” and then the country of origin: there would be the product “Spanish vineyards”, “Italian vineyards”, “French vineyards”, and also “European vineyards”. They are concepts that are apparently useful for stronger marketing, but it is difficult that they will be able to resist over time and, above all, find acceptance and perfect understanding among consumers”.