With a programme, the EU promotes moderate wine consumption in combination with protected designations of origin. In the first half of 2023, producers, wine merchants, journalists and restaurateurs gathered at several events to learn about these issues.
"Responsible Wine Consumption" is written on the title page of the brochure, several copies of which are lying on the long, covered restaurant table. It also features a stylised owl whose body represents the goblet of a wine glass. It is probably meant to watch over the responsible consumption of wine, which is the theme of the evening.
We are in Thessaloniki, and this evening is the last of three on which a multi-course menu is served for German and Greek wine professionals. The dishes are accompanied by Greek wines. All the guests know about these wines is that they come from Central Macedonia in the north of the country, are made from the Xinomavro grape variety and carry a protected designation of origin.
The culinary blind tasting is part of the concept. This is because the "Business Dinners", which have been organised this year in several cities in Germany and Greece, are financially supported by the European Union (EU). The background is the so-called national support programme. For this, the Member States receive amounts from the EU budget to support "various measures in favour of the wine sector", as it says at the Federal Ministry of Agriculture (BMEL).
Among other things, events that serve to "provide information on responsible wine consumption and the Community system of geographical indications" are eligible for support, according to the BMEL. Such information campaigns can take place either in an EU member state, in several member states (intra-community) or in third countries that do not belong to the EU (extra-community). Wine producers or producer associations such as federations based in an EU country can apply for funding.
According to the Federal Agency for Agriculture and Food (Bundesanstalt für Landwirtschaft und Ernährung, BLE), the support programme "is intended to contribute to further improving the competitiveness of European viticulture in the coming years. The aim is to inform consumers about responsible wine consumption and about EU designations of origin and geographical indications." The international guests from the wine trade, gastronomy and media will learn how these topics are connected at the dinners.
The EU brochure summarises the essential information
VinologThe host of the events is the northern Greek winery Vaeni Naoussa. It has launched an intra-community information campaign in line with EU requirements, which will run for three years and is co-financed by Greece. It is organised by the Greek agricultural consultancy Novacert and the German wine marketing and event agency Wein-Plus Solutions. Together with the third term of the support programme, the campaign will end on 31 August 2023, and by then eleven business dinners will have taken place this year alone, eight of them in the first half of the year.
The principle is the exchange among wine professionals in a fitting atmosphere, because the EU recommends drinking wine together with a meal. Therefore, it seems to make sense to present the guidelines for responsible wine consumption and the system of protected designations of origin in the EU at a dinner. Ten to twelve guests from Germany and Greece are invited to each event, some of whom may also visit the other country.
For example, there were three business dinners in Thessaloniki and Athens in February 2023 and two dinners in Düsseldorf in March, which took place during the international trade fair ProWein. In June, German journalists travelled to Thessaloniki to attend three more dinners. The intended exchange among the guests works very well: in English, Greek and German they talk about wine quality, regions of origin, food pairing and much more.
At the end of August, there will be three more business dinners in the Rhine-Main area. The identity of the wines served will remain hidden at all events, because the EU programme prohibits the promotion of individual wines or producers. The requirement is that the accompanying wines must come from an EU member state - in this case Greece - and bear a protected designation of origin.
The Vaeni Naoussa winery is the client of the information campaign
VinologThe system of protected designations of origin in the EU follows the principle: the closer the origin, the higher the wine quality. This means that the smaller the geographical unit from which its grapes originate, the better the wine. The country of origin is considered the largest geographical unit and a vineyard the smallest.
According to this principle of origin, there are three quality levels for wine from the member states of the Union - in ascending order:
The g. U. is basically the narrowest designation of origin, which stands for higher wine quality. It defines the strictest specifications with regard to the geographical unit for the cultivation and processing of the grapes, the grape variety(ies), the cultivation, the yield, the harvest, the vinification, the ageing, the maturing time in the cellar and/or certain analysis values.
In Greek, the protected geographical indication is called "Prostatevomenis Geografikis Endixis" (abbreviated to PGE) and the protected designation of origin "Prostatevomenis Onomasías Proelefsis" (abbreviated to POP). At the business dinners, only wines bearing the PGI "Macedonia PGE" or the PDO "Naoussa POP" are served. U. "Naoussa POP". Naoussa POP only applies to red wines that are produced from 100 percent of the autochthonous grape variety Xinomavro, Macedonia PGE also applies to Xinomavro that is pressed white (Greek: lefkós ex erythrón) or as rosé.
In western culture, the owl is a symbol of wisdom.
VinologSince the protection of origin defines clear quality standards, this is the link to responsible wine consumption. The connection is explained in the brochure with the owl, which the EU has published for an information campaign. Responsible consumption does not only refer to the quantity or frequency, but also to the quality of the wines.
In the brochure, the EU recommends drinking wine "in moderation", "slowly" and "together with water". It contrasts wines with a protected designation of origin, which it calls "branded wines", with "bulk wine of unknown origin", arguing: "Unlike branded wines, bulk wine has no label and therefore the consumer cannot know very important details such as the producer, origin of raw materials, varietal composition of the wine, year of harvest, year of bottling and other data that contribute to responsible consumption."
In simpler terms, responsible wine consumption means drinking slower, less and less often, but drinking better. And EU Protected Designation of Origin wines offer a clue to higher quality because they come from a well-defined geographical area and are produced according to strict rules. Protected wines therefore contribute to responsible consumption, or at least facilitate it - says the EU.
The EU advocates moderate wine consumption
Vinolog