New Wines Of Greece

The European Union, by means of its Council Regulation 479/2008 and its Commission Regulation 607/2009 implementing the Council Regulation, has decided, among others, to include wines in the framework applicable to all other agricultural products, thus establishing the following wine categories:

• PDO Wines: “PDO products” bear a “Protected Designation of Origin” indication. This wine category comprises Greek wines bearing a Designation of Origin (VQPRD), in other words, all  AOQS and AOC wines.

• PGI Wines: PGI products are those bearing a “Protected Geographical Indication”. This wine category comprises all Regional Wines and any of the wines of “Traditional Designation” which, simultaneously, have an established geographical indication i.e., Verdea and 15 retsinas (PGI wines of Greece).

• Varietal wines: Varietals wines are a new wine category which includes those table wines complying with all the necessary prerequisites and controls as those are stipulated in Article 63, Council Regulation 607/2009. In contrast to ordinary table wines, wines of this wine category are entitled to bear an indication of their vintage year and varietal composition but not of their geographical indication.

• Table wines: “Ordinary” table wines belong to a wine category which includes all wines which are neither PDO or PGI but, in addition, are not in the wine varietals category either. The regulation stipulates that table wines in this wine category are still not entitled to display their vintage year or the varieties participating in their composition.