recognising top
quality wines
RECOGNISING TOP QUALITY WINES
recognising top
quality wines
Anyone who is new to the world of wines might be overwhelmed by the huge variety that is available nowadays.
Hundreds of wineries produce thousands of wines, creating more issues for the customer, when it comes to choosing which wines are of the highest quality, which of those wines really originate from their regions and which of those would provide them with the best tastes to suit their desires. This is where the DOK, IGT and other quality marks come in.
DOK and IGT were created to regulate wines produced in the EU, with wines being able to qualify for quality marks only if they conform to strict criteria including the region of origin, the particular grapes used and the techniques used for production. In Malta, DOK and IGT wines are mostly recognised through the collar label, often referred to as a banderole, which one can find fixed on the wine bottles themselves.
Different quality wines have different banderoles depending on the status of protection that they qualify for – banderoles are pale green in colour in the case of IGT wines and yellow in the case of DOK wines. In order to avoid counterfeits for the assurance of customers, banderoles are made out of high-security paper and contain an individual number for traceability purposes.
On the right side of the banderole, one can also observe a holographic security strip that replaces the excise stamp, which can be found on each bottle of wine for sale locally.
In this way, consumers may therefore recognise quality wines easily through the banderoles, which in themselves prove the quality as well as the
traceability of wines. Despite having introduced the quality wine regimes over ten years ago, Maltese consumers are still quite baffled as to the significance of what the quality marks stand for.
Having said this, some basic knowledge as to DOK and IGT has indeed seeped through some of the local population and therefore it is important that consumers are in a position to better appreciate wines both when at home and also when dining out. The ability, the science and love of appreciating quality wine diversity is not only an experience within the wine sector but a true enrichment to one’s culture and knowledge of the different territories of Europe.
It provides the way to expand not only one’s taste buds but also the knowledge as to different territories and cultures which pride in producing their quality wines.
