Designation of Origin

A DO or protected designation of origin, is a geographical indicator used in the European Union to promote and protect names of quality agricultural products and foodstuffs.

This system is similar to the appellation systems used around the world and is known by different names in different countries in the EU. For instance in France is known as the appellation d’origine contrôlée (AOC), in Italy is known as the denominazione di origine controllata (DOC), in Portugal as the denominação de origem controlada (DOC), in Spain as the denominación de origen (DO) system and  in Romania is known as the Denumire de origine controlată (DOC) system.

The purpose of this law is to protect the reputation of the regional foods, promote rural and agricultural activity, help producers obtain a premium price for their authentic products, and eliminate the unfair competition and misleading of consumers by non-genuine products, which may be of inferior quality or of different flavour.

Spanish Designations of Origin

Spain is a country with one of the oldest wine tradition in the world, with more than 1.2 millions of hectares dedicated to grow and produce wine, making it the country with the largest acreage of vineyards in the world -more than 15% of the global total- but it’s only the third in terms of production , behind Italy and France.

In all the Spanish territory there are six kinds of wines according to the regulation followed to regulate their production or, in other words, the kind of DO that is regulating the production of the wine. These are the different levels of DO followed in Spain:

• Vinos de Pago (V.P.)
• Denominacion de Origen Calificada (D.O.Ca.)
• Denominacion de Origen (D.O.)
• Vino de Calidad de Indicacion Geografica (V.C.I.G.)
• Vino de la Tierra (V.T.)
• Vinos de Mesa

These qualifications have different regulations and quality restrictions in order to protect specific characteristics of the products protected by them.

Vinos de Mesa (Table wines)

Table wines are on the lowest level in protection and requirement. Technically they don’t belong to any DO regulation and they are not required to specify in their bottles non the origin, add or varieties. It means that table wines are wines made using grapes from different regions inside the Spanish territory but without the warranty that the wine is going to be always made every year using grapes from the same place or if they are going to maybe combine grapes from different regions to reach their production.

They are called “Table wines” as these are the kind of wines that you may find at home to drink  during common dinners or lunches. These wines are usually used to cook or to mix it with another drinks to make different beverages as sangria, Tinto de Verano, etc,.

Vinos de la tierra (Country wine)

Vinos de la tierra is a Spanish term meaning “country wine”. Vinos de la tierra are a step in the Spanish wine classification that is above the table wine (Vinos de Mesa) classification, but below Designation of Origin (DO), and is used to distinguish wines that were made using grape varieties or procedures from an specific region with special characteristics. Unlike table wines, which are only indicated as being from Spain, Vinos de la Tierra carries a geographic designation of origin, the producers have to submit the wine for analysis and tasting, and the wines have to be made from certain varieties or blends.

Vino de Calidad de Indicacion Geografica – V.C.I.G

They are produced and processed in a region or locality, and all the grapes must have the same origin and production, winemaking or ageing at that place.

Denominacion de Origen  – D.O. – (Designation or Denomination of Origin)

There are many Designation of Origin distributed by the Spanish geography, nothing more and nothing less than 69 different ones in all the territory. The first ones were created at 1933 (Jerez, Manzanilla, Moriles, Rioja, etc …) but they were not legally recognised until years later.

These DO are used to warrantee the quality of the wines produced in those areas, to preserve special characteristics or unique grapes productions, like for example the Godello under the DO Valdeorras or the Txakoli (Chacolí) under different DOs at provinces of the Basque Country, Cantabria and northern Burgos.

Denominación de Origen Calificada – D.O.Ca. (Qualified Designation of Origin)

This is an special recognition given to regions with a proven track record of consistent quality. In Spain there are only two wine regions with this status: Rioja and Priorat.

 

Vinos de Pago – VP

This is the highest qualification that a wine may have in the Spanish regulation.The quality requirements for a Vino de Pago are the same to those for a DOCa wine, and wine estates that are classified as Vino de Pago are subject to separate requirements rather than those of the wine region where they are located. One of the requirements is that the estate may only use their own grapes for their wines. The Spanish word pago comes from the Latin word pagus, meaning a country district.

In Spain there are only 15 wineries with this recognition, each one of them unique for an specific winery. This is because this qualification is applied only to individual vineyards or wine estates rather than regions like the DO or DOCa.

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