The decision to create a new denomination – the world’s largest – has paid huge dividends for Italy’s Pinot Grigio producers. As of 31 July, more than 130m bottles of Pinot Grigio now have DOC status and the production zone expects there will be no stocks left by December 2018.
“This great result desired by our Consortium in order to offer the final consumer a real guarantee of quality can be realized only through the controlled appellation, said Albino Armani, the president of the Consorzio delle Venezie DOC, in a statement. “We are pleased to see that international markets have finally understood our ‘revolution’.”
In 2017, the regions of Veneto, Trentino-Alto Adige and Friuli-Venezia-Giulia came together to form Delle Venezie, extending over an area of more than 23,300 ha, and accounting for more than half of the world’s Pinot Grigio production. The rules of the new denomination were created to be strict, insisting that all Pinot Grigio wines are to be certified under a coordinated system. The denomination was officially recognized in March 2017.
One of the reasons for the new denomination was to promote the image of Italian Pinot Grigio against competitors from other countries.
Requests for certification rose by 73% after the 2017 vintage and bottling by 50%. From 1 August 2018, Pinot Grigio from Veneto, Friuli and Trentino-Alto Adige can no longer be bottled as IGT.
