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Prosecco – the rules
Posted 18th December, 2009
From the 1st of August 2009 all Prosecco will be protected both within and outside the EU. Producers making Prosecco from outside DOCG and DOC areas will have to use the alternative name for the grape, Glera on their label instead of Prosecco. Meanwhile the actual delimited Prosecco zones also change.
The two territorial changes are:
a) The old DOC area of Conegliano and Valdobbiadene will become DOCG
b) The old IGT area will expand into Friuli and Veneto and will become DOC.
The new DOC area will come into force in January 2010 and the new DOCG area will be implemented on the 1st April 2010. The new DOC area is likely to come under pressure since the new law has (rightly) diminished the yields from 20 tons to 12.5 tons per Ha. The new enlarged area does not yet have Prosecco vineyards in production but in the last few months there has been a huge amount of activity mainly involving the grafting of Prosecco onto Merlot vines. Production is expected to begin over the next couple of years.