The Italian System of Wine Classification
At this time it is probably necessary to briefly discuss the way in which Italy regulates the production and labeling of its wines. As a wine maker in Italy you can make any type of wine you like, using any type of grapes or mixture thereof, and using any type of process you’d like as well. However, certain regions and names have become quite meaningful and have come to hold very specific interpretations of what placing that name on a wine entails. For instance, Chianti is a region of Italy, however when you think of a Chianti in the context of wines a very specific style and taste comes to mind. If I told you I was pouring you a glass of Chianti and handed you a glass of sweet white wine you’d be confused. When it comes to wine the term Chianti has meaning…much more meaning than simply the region from which the wine was made. As such, the governing bodies in Italy have very strict regulations on what wines you can and cannot slap the name Chianti on, which is a good thing. If anyone would put the name Chianti Classico on any bottle of wine regardless of how it was made, which types of grapes were used or where those grapes came from and regardless of how the wine tasted, the term Chianti Classico would suddenly lose all meaning.
Italy’s system of classifying their wines is modeled after the French Appellation d’origins controlee (AOC) laws. The levels of classification each with more stringent requirements are as such:
– VDT (Vino de tabala or table wine)
– IGT (Indicazione geografica tipica)
– DOC (Denominazione di origine controllata)
– DOCG (Denominazione di origine controllata e grarantita)
Vino de tabala, or table wine in English, is simply generic/varietal wine without a geographical indication. There are no particular production rules. The wine maker can blend any type of grapes, from any regions and make any style of wine he wants. He goes through no government testing or regulation and he can call his wine an Italian table wine simply by being in Italy while he makes the wine.
IGT, which in English translates to “indication of geographical typicality,” is used to designate wines, as the name suggest as being typical of the wines you would expect historically from a geographic region. For a wine to receive an IGT designation on its label it most be made in a specific wine region, within strictly defined borders. And, a minimum of 85% of the grapes must come from within the borders of this defined wine region. For instance, a Chianti with an IGT designation on its label must be produced within the IGT defined borders of the Chianti region and be made from grapes 85% of which come from within that region. They can be of any type/varietal and from multiple different farms as long as 85% of the grapes come from within the Chianti IGT region.
To receive a DOC designation 100% of your grapes must come from within the DOC borders of a wine region (often times stricter than the IGT borders). For each specific DOC region there are further laws that govern how the wine must be made in order to achieve DOC designation, such as, among other things, which wine varietals may be used. For instance, in Tuscany Chianti DOC rules stipulate that wines must include Sangiovese grapes, however Sangiovese grapes cannot comprise more than 70% of the blend. This is why the famous Super Tuscans which can often times fall out outside these regulations by being 100% Sangiovese or based on Bordeaux varietals like Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot are often labeled with IGT designations and not DOC.
DOCG is the most strictly regulated classification. It denotes controlled production methods and guaranteed wine quality. These strict rules include everything in DOC regulations as well as stricter regulations on the permitted grape varietals and added regulations on yield limits, grape ripeness, winemaking procedures and barrel/bottle maturation. Furthermore, every DOCG wine is subject to official tasting procedures conducted by sommeliers working for the Italian government.
A quick word on Super Tuscans…Super Tuscan is an unofficial term that emerged in the 1970s to describe a particular set of high-quality Tuscan wines which were precluded from claiming DOC or DOCG status because they broke with traditional Italian winemaking norms (foreign grape varieties were used, and the wines were often matured in small, new oak barrels). Several of these wines earned global recognition and astronomical price tags – hence ‘Super Tuscan’. Originally these wines had to be labeled as Vino da Tavola because they contravened the stringent, tradition-focused DOC laws. Having high quality wines being labeled as the same low quality mass produced typical table wine, and having their world renowned high end wines compete on the world stage with this rather pedestrian bottle designation was certainly unacceptable to the luxury wine makers. Moreover, having extremely expensive, award winning wines being coveted all over the world while not being recognized, and more importantly not being taxed for going through the DOC/DOCG classification system, was neither a good look nor an acceptable situation for the Italian government. This situation ultimately led to the creation of the IGT category, with its relatively relaxed production rules.
For these reasons, do not be fooled into thinking that a DOC wine is always necessarily a higher quality wine than an IGT labeled wine. There are quite a few IGT wines that are far superior to what you can typically expect from the DOC designation. The designations, while loosely based on quality, are more a measure of how typical a wine recreates a classic taste profile. Chianti Classico is a distinct and recognizable taste profile. By strictly regulating which grapes are used, where those grapes were grown, how they were grown, harvested, and aged into wine we can be assured that a DOC wine will meet this expected taste profile and a DOCG wine will match it even more strictly.
Bon Apetit
