page_title: Denominazione di origine controllata
section_title: Denominazione di origine controllata e garantita (DOCG)
hierarchical_section_title: Denominazione di origine controllata / Denominazione di origine controllata e garantita (DOCG)
caption_attribution_description: DOCG label from a bottle of 2012 Barbera D'Asti
context_page_description: The following four classifications of wine constitute the Italian system of labelling and legally protecting Italian wine:
  Denominazione di origine,
  Indicazione geografica tipica,
  Denominazione di origine controllata, and
  Denominazione di origine controllata e garantita.
  The system was introduced in 1963 shortly after the Treaty of Rome established Italy as a founding member of the European Economic Community, and was modelled on the extant French Appellation d'origine contrôlée laws. It was overhauled in 1992 to match new European Union law on Protected Designation of Origin, introducing the more general Denominazione di Origine Protetta designation for foods and agricultural products, including wines. Further EU reforms to harmonise agricultural policy in 2008 meant that designations used in member states, and thus Italian designations, were registered with the EU by the end of 2011, with subsequent new denominations or elevations approved by the EU.
context_section_description: Denominazione di origine controllata e garantita is intended to be a superior classification to DOC, and is the highest classification in Italy. All DOCG wines from each producer are analysed and tasted by government–licensed judgement panel before being bottled. Once approved, the wines are “guaranteed” with a numbered governmental seal across the cap or cork, to prevent later manipulation. Where the DOCG classification represents a refinement of an existing DOC wine, the rules for the DOCG wine usually require more stringent quality controls. These controls are usually some combination of a lower proportion of blending grapes, lower yields, higher minimum alcohol, longer ageing requirements, and so on.
  The need for a DOCG identification arose when the DOC designation was, in the view of many Italian food industries, given too liberally to different products. A new, more restrictive identification was then created as similar as possible to the previous one so that buyers could still recognize it, but qualitatively different. The three original DOCGs were Brunello di Montalcino, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, and Barolo, all approved by a presidential decree in July 1980, followed by Barbaresco three months later.
  For wines produced in Bolzano, where German is an official language, DOCG may be written as Kontrollierte und garantierte Ursprungsbezeichnung.
  In 2010-2011 many new DOCG classifications were created or elevated from DOC, in the rush to register them before the EU reform deadline. This has had the effect of potentially diluting the importance of the DOCG classification.
caption: A paper strip denoting DOCG on a bottle of 2012 Barbera d'Asti
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