THE RED WINE OF THE HILLS BECOMES ONLY COLLI EUGANEI DOC

The great red wines of the Euganean Hills will be called "Colli Euganei DOC," without any further specification. This decision was made on Friday, October 31st, by the Members' Meeting of the Consortium for the Protection of Colli Euganei Wines, held at the consortium headquarters in Vo'.

" With this decision ," explains Consortium President Gianluca Carraro, " a further fundamental simplification of our production regulations has been achieved, following the one already adopted for Serprino at the end of last year. In the case of Serprino, we decided to emphasize the name of this historic grape variety present in our territory, adopting the term Serprino dei Colli Euganei DOC. Now, however, for our red wines made from those Bordeaux-origin grapes that have been perfectly acclimatized in the area since the mid-19th century, we have chosen to place a strong emphasis on the name of the terroir, as is done in all major national and international appellations. Until now, we talked about Cabernet or Merlot produced in the Euganean Hills, thus emphasizing the grape variety in relation to the terroir. From now on, when we drink a Colli Euganei DOC, we will highlight the terroir of origin, without needing to emphasize the grape variety. As we had foreseen in our strategic plan." Adopted in July 2024, the Colli Euganei DOC will thus become the benchmark for the territory's vocational expression and therefore for its designation of origin. In this way, we intend to emphasize our identity as a historic home for Italian red wine from Bordeaux grapes .

Producers who need to can continue to add the indication of the grape variety used (Cabernet, Merlot, Carmenère), but in this case the name of the grape variety must be printed smaller than the mention “Colli Euganei”, which will instead be given maximum prominence.

More specifically, the new Colli Euganei DOC regulations, which must now be approved by the Veneto Region and the National Wine Committee, an emanation of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry (MASAF), before they become effective, require that any mention of Cabernet Franc, Carmenère, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot grapes on the labeling of Colli Euganei red wines must follow the denomination and appear below the "controlled designation of origin" or "DOC" acronym. Furthermore, any printed characters for the grape variety name must be no higher than half the height of the characters that spell out the "Colli Euganei" designation and use the same typeface, graphic style, spacing, emphasis, color, and color intensity, so that the emphasis is always on the geographical name of the Euganean Hills.

“ With the new year ,” Carraro announces, “ we intend to consult with the production chain regarding any initiatives concerning local white wines, just as in the future the prospects of the Fior d'Arancio DOCG will be the subject of a thorough evaluation, in light of the changes taking place on international markets .”