"Primitivo" only for labels of wines produced in Puglia, Basilicata, Campania, Abruzzo, Umbria, Lazio and Sardinia

MIPAAF, Bellanova: “I will never allow a Sicilian PDO or PGI wine to be called primitive. But no one can prevent trials on the vines "

"I will never allow a bottle of Sicilian PDO or PGI wine to be called" Primitivo "exactly as only the Sicilian PDO PGI can use the name of the grape variety" Nero d'Avola ", and this despite that grape variety can be grown in other regions that have entered the list of recommended and authorized varieties.

The European legislation and the corresponding national decrees, as those who know them know, protect the territorial references, the so-called geographical indications, but they do not create the legal protection of the varieties nor prevent those grapes from being cultivated elsewhere. Unfortunately, this is an era in which nobody studies or simply documents themselves and a policy that rides anything is sad to gain some visibility, generating confusion and legitimizing expectations of all kinds. Yet even on the website of the Ministry it is possible to find all the necessary indications precisely on the geographical indications that represent an undisputed excellence of our food supply chain and the inseparable link between territories and production excellence, especially in the case of wines and over 500 cultivars that make our Country a unicuum ".

So the Minister Teresa Bellanova about the alarm generated in Puglia after the authorization by the Sicilian Regional Council to cultivate the Primitivo variety on the entire regional territory.

"In Sicily, as in other Italian regions", continues the Minister, "it is not possible to prevent, after necessary experimentation, the planting of Primitivo vines but the PDO and PGI wines obtained can never be labeled with the indication on the label of the name of the grape variety "Primitivo".

In the second attachment of the Ministerial Decree of 13 August 2012, it is indicated unequivocally how that variety "Primitivo" can only be used in the label of PDO or PGI wines of Puglia and of the regions: Basilicata, Campania, Abruzzo, Umbria, Lazio and Sardinia.

Therefore, nothing prevents Sicily, after adequate experimentation, to classify it first under observation and then declare it possibly suitable for cultivation.

The fact remains that the cultivation of the Primitivo grape does not allow the use of the term varietal on the bottle of Primitivo in areas other than the PDO and PGI indicated in the Ministerial Decree of 13 August 2012.

Greater caution would also be advised in this case so that unwarranted alarms and conflicts between Regions, especially in the South of Italy, are not generated which, indeed, should and could make the quality and enhancement of their excellence a common battle and a strategy of global positioning ".

"Primitivo" only for labels of wines produced in Puglia, Basilicata, Campania, Abruzzo, Umbria, Lazio and Sardinia