Viñedos de España: new wine regional designation
On June 21st, Elena Espinoza, the Spanish Minister of Agriculture, announced that a new regional designation for wine production is about to be created which will be termed "Viñedos de España" or Vineyards of Spain. This area would provide a "catch-all" regional designation so that producers can label their wines with the varietals used and the vintage date, something that would be prohibited for all non-D.O. wines under the proposed new E.U. wine regulations.
Spanish Wine Federation (FEV) is supporting this measure as a way to bolster recent overall drops in Spanish wine exports, the majority of which are made in bulk from non-D.O. regions.
Labels: D.O.'s and regions
posted by Steven Tolliver 11:59 AM
2 Comments:
I have somewhat mixed views on this issue. On one hand I think it's good to see the government continuing to promote Spanish wine; that certainly never hurts. But Spain has been wrestling with trying to improve its marketability for a long time and this seems to be just on more example that what is lacking is an overall vision on what should be done. You also have the "Wines from Spain" too, which is similar in philosophy. On the other hand, the number of D.O.'s keeps rising, D.O. Ucl'es being just the latest example.
In addition, I'm not sure what the winemakers themselves have to say about this all. They are surely happy to have anyone promote their wine, but many seem to enjoy the freedom to promote on their own, and certainly some regions my feel leery about having their good name confused with a region of lesser quality. Spanish wine is a confusing subject to many, and if a new strategy is invented every year or so, the industry runs the risk of making it even more confusing.
But that's just looking on the down side. Hopefully this will prove positive.
Thanks for your comments Brian. It is important to note that the drive to create this macro-region comes in response to a change in European Union regulations that would limit producers' labeling options. However, this is no subsitute for marketing efforts by the wineries themselves. In the end it is the producers who decide what to say to the consumer and how to say it.
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