No C 337/28 Official Journal of the European Communities 31. 12. 88 
Opinion on the demarcation of wine-growing zones in the Community 
(88/C337/10) 
On 28 January 1988 the Economic and Social Committee, acting under the fourth paragraph 
of Article 20 of its rules of procedure, decided to draw up an own-initiative Opinion on the 
demarcation of wine-growing zones in the Community. 
The section for agriculture and fisheries, which was responsible for preparing the Committee's 
work on the subject, adopted its Opinion on 6 October 1988 in the light of the report by 
Mr Margalef-Masia. 
At its 259th plenary session (meeting of 27 October 1988), the Economic and Social Committee 
adopted the following Opinion with no votes against and 2 abstentions. 
1. The future classification of EC wine-growing 
zones must not merely reinforce the present situation 
but constitute a basic instrument of future wine-sector 
policy. 
2. The purpose of this classification is to pave the 
way for the development of a policy on the siting of 
Community vineyards which, taking into account the 
climatic features of the various zones, results in natural, 
high-quality products and a wine-growing potential 
which is in balance. It is therefore basically a means 
of differentiating production conditions in the various 
zones. 
3. This is of capital importance in protecting zones 
particularly suited to wine-growing, but with due 
regard for traditional practices in the various zones. 
The rules of enrichment and on minimum natural 
alcoholic strength will therefore be graded so as to 
avoid excess output, and thus ensure a better balance 
on the market. 
4. Although the terms zone and category must not 
be confused, their inter-relationship has to be borne in 
mind. 
5. The first element to be taken into account is the 
ability of the vine to complete its growth cycle and 
produce sufficiently ripened grapes in the various wine­
growing zones. 
6. Although the quality of the wine derives from 
several factors: acidity, aroma, polyphenol, dry extract, 
etc., the natural alcoholic strength, which depends on 
the degree of ripeness and the quantities produced per 
unit of surface area, is especially important when setting 
zone boundaries. 
7. Therefore the Committee attaches particular 
importance to the climatic conditions which combine 
to produce the minimum natural strength as a guide 
for the demarcation of zones. 8. Although classification would seem, in the light 
of the preceding comments, an excessively complex 
undertaking, the Committee hopes that it will be poss­
ible to avoid any undue complexity which would delay 
unreasonably the demarcation of zones in the Com­
munity of 12. 
8.1. Account must be taken of the experience gained 
from the zone classification carried out before the 
enlargement of the Community and which was well 
received. 
8.2. The general principles which guided this classifi­
cation should therefore be used as a basis for extending 
the classification to the new Member States. Fairness 
must be a primary concern, as stressed in the Com­
mittee's previous Opinion on the subject, but for a 
twelve-member Community, and in the interests of 
fairness, the criteria should be refined to take account 
of the specific features of the new Member States. 
8.3. The Committee attaches special importance to 
the following classification criteria, in alphabetical 
order: 
— altitude, 
— latitude, 
— rainfall, 
— sunshine, and 
— temperature. 
9. The Committee regards those vineyards classified 
as quality wines produced in specific regions (psr) as 
special cases. 
9.1. The demarcation of quality wines psr areas has 
for a long time been carried out on the basis of tra­
ditions and practices and has resulted in unique prod­
ucts much sought after the consumer. 
9.2. Vineyards producing quality wines psr situated 
in the various wine-growing zones must, however, be 
suitable for producing wine meeting at least the mini­
mum criteria (as regards in particular sugar content) 
from grapes used for producing table wines in the zone 
in question. 
31. 12. 88 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 337/29 
The fact that the specific rules covering certain quality 
wines psr call for distinctly stricter criteria does not 
imply a change of zone. 
10. The Committee would like the Commission to 
draw up a preliminary report to speed up the work. It 
has the following proposals to make regarding the 
method required to classify and demarcate the wine­
growing zones within a reasonable period: 
— Establishment, with the assistance of institutes and 
associations specialized in climatology, of uniform 
climatic zones taking particular account of factors 
mentioned in point 8.3. 
— Comparison of these zones with present EC demar­
cation. 
— Review of anomalies between the two zone demar­
cations. 
— Corrections to be made to present prescribed demar­
cation by means of accurate geographical maps with 
a projection of existing wine-growing zones. 
— Application of the same demarcation methods and 
criteria to new Member States. 
— Notification of proposed zone demarcation and 
classification or corrections to national and re-
Done at Brussels, 27 October 1988. gional authorities and non-governmental organiz­
ations. 
— a) Establishment of a general EC zone demar­
cation map; 
— b) Establishment of more precise zone-by-zone 
maps with superimposition of those areas under 
vine when the map was prepared. 
10.1. From the information provided by the Com­
mission on the state of preparatory work, the Com­
mittee has the impression that things are going too 
slowly. 
The Committee calls upon the Commission to speed 
things up as much as possible so that the new rules are 
ready for presentation within one year. 
11. The Committee considers that monitoring 
changes in the area under vine in the various EC zones 
could be a considerable help in controlling the EC's 
wine-growing potential. 
12. Of course, the Committee reserves the right to 
issue a detailed Opinion on the matter once the Com­
mission has presented its proposals for a regulation, 
and to express its views before then if the Commission 
decides to produce any background and/or discussion 
documents. 
The Chairman 
of the Economic and Social Committee 
Alberto MASPRONE