Geographical Indication (GI) and Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) are legal frameworks that protect and promote spirits identified as originating from a specific town, region, or country. The most comprehensive list of protected spirit drinks is supplied by Regulation no. 110/2008 of the European Parliament, a 2008 update of a 1989 law. (The regulations for aromatized wines and aromatized-wine-based drinks are set out in a separate no. 1601/91.) The purpose of geographical indication in general is to maintain the integrity of association between countries and regions and the food and drink that they produce, but a protected status also helps to preserve the practices of what are often long-established artisanal producers, as well as protecting premium products from counterfeit and non-genuine competitors.
A PDO product must be manufactured entirely in the area indicated, while a product with a GI requires that only some stages of the production take place in the indicated country or region. Spirits tend to fall under the GI category, as it is relatively uncommon for a distiller to conduct every stage of production—from growing to distilling to blending or other processing to bottling and packaging—in the same region, particularly when it comes to the larger firms and more popular spirits. Neither PDO nor GI should be confused with an indication of source—for example “made in China”—where there need not be any definable characteristic that derives from its place of origin.
The European GI/PDO system first came into effect in 1992, but similar systems have existed for much longer. In France, for example, the appellation d’origine contrôlée (AOC) has its origins in the fifteenth century, when a parliamentary decree granted Roquefort cheese protection from imitators. France also passed the first modern law for the protection of place in 1919 and today includes Armagnac, calvados, cognac, and Martinique rhum among its list of protected spirits.
The EU’s current list of GI spirits includes many spirit subcategories that originate from certain regions or countries, but also spirits, liqueurs, and aperitifs that have “acquired their character and definitive qualities” from a specific area and its associated production methods. In total, there are forty spirit categories and hundreds of registered European GIs. The majority of the spirits featured are fruit- and wine-based. Some are household names, such as cognac and calvados, but most, such as Medronheira do Algarve (a Portuguese spirit made in the Algarve region and distilled from the fermented fruit of the Arbutus unedo tree) are far less familiar, and some—black-muscat-raisin spirit, German Hefebrand (wine-lees brandy)—are positively archaic. There are, however, some grain spirits covered, including several juniper-flavored ones, such as gin de Mahón (from the Spanish island of Minorca) and Balegemse jenever (farmhouse Belgian genever), as well as caraway spirits such as Dansk akvavit. Also covered are various anise-flavored spirits and a wide range of liqueurs, including everything from cassis de Dijon to Irish cream. See cream liqueurs and crème de cassis.
In the United States there are only a handful of GI spirits, namely, Kentucky bourbon and Tennessee whisky, although “bourbon” must itself be produced in the United States. See whisky, bourbon. Mexico protects tequila and various other regional varieties of mezcal, plus Michoacán’s cane-based charanda. See charanda. A number of Caribbean nations have established the Authentic Caribbean Rum (ACR) designation, although it is a loose one when it comes to dictating production norms. See rum. Pisco is protected in both Peru and Chile, although neither country recognizes the other’s regulations. See pisco.
Where products are exported to other countries, there are often international agreements in place that protect spirits at both ends of the trade. One example of this is the 1997 Agreement between the European Community and the United Mexican States on the Mutual Recognition and Protection of Designations for Spirit Drinks, which ensures the rules concerning tequila labeling are consistent on both sides of the Atlantic.
While GIs often specify some broad characteristics of the covered spirits, such as source materials, distillation and bottling proofs, and sweetening, they tend not to control the specific methods of production used to make a spirit. So while EU law requires that whisky labeled “scotch whisky” must be from Scotland, the rules regarding exactly how “whisky” must be made are covered in a separate section of the legislation, and much of the detail is in fact left up to the individual countries to define.
The GI/PDO framework has been the subject of some degree of criticism since its inception. Most critics have focused on the issue of self-regulation, where areas awarded a protected GI, if left unchecked, could have potential issues with product price fixing, labor control, and profit channeling. A GI can also prove difficult to obtain for some, since locating a distillery within a designated geographical area may be price prohibitive—not a problem if you’re handed acres of grape-growing farmland in Cognac’s Grande Champagne region but a disadvantage for a talented cellar master lacking the capital to buy property in the region. Another point of contention is the consumer’s assumption that a product with a PDO is ascribed a value of being inherently “good” or at the very least better than a similar product made outside of the PDO, although the designation in fact has nothing to say about production standards.
Authentic Caribbean Rum website. https://acr-rum.com/en/ (accessed March 30, 2021).
“Regulation (EC) No 110/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 January 2008.” Official Journal of the European Union, February 2, 2008, L 39/16-54.
By: Tristan Stephenson