The EU wine market reform, which came into force in 2012, declares the principle of origin to be the authoritative quality system for the wines of the EU member states. The basic principle is: the closer the origin, the higher the quality of the wine.

This means that the smaller the geographical unit from which the grapes come, the better the wine. The country of origin is regarded as the largest geographical unit and a single vineyard as the smallest. The quality levels according to the principle of origin are therefore in ascending order:

• Country
• Region/growing area
• Place
• Location
• Parcel

This principle is also followed in Germany by the Verband Deutscher Prädikatsweingüter (VDP) with its four-tier classification system of Gutswein, Ortswein, Erster Lage and Großer Lage.

In accordance with the EU wine market reform, there are essentially two levels of protected designation of origin for wines. In Germany, they are called "protected geographical indication (PGI)" and "protected designation of origin (PDO)". The PGI refers to the former category "Landwein", the PDO refers to quality wines according to wine law (including Prädikat wines). The previous designations of origin may be retained in Germany.

The PDO is basically and in any case the narrower designation of origin, which stands for a higher wine quality. In the southern European wine countries, the levels are easier to categorise, as the principle of origin was already the benchmark for wine quality here before the wine market reform:

In Austria, the new designations of the EU wine market reform are not used (which is legally permissible). Instead, the designations "Landwein", "Qualitätswein" and "Prädikatswein" continue to be used - as in Germany, but here exclusively - as well as the additional, even stricter category "Districtus Austriae Controllatus (DAC)" for quality wines, which in turn corresponds to the principle of origin.