🏷️ DO (Spain)

Denominación de Origen (DO) is a Spanish traditional term for a wine with a protected designation of origin (PDO). Spain uses four such terms: Denominación de Origen (DO), Denominación de Origen Calificada (DOCa), Vino de Pago (VP) and Vino de Calidad (VC).

Under Article 93 of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013, a designation of origin is the name of a region or a specific place. The quality and characteristics of the wine must be essentially or exclusively due to a particular geographical environment with its natural and human factors. All the grapes must come from that area, the wine must be produced there, and it must be obtained from Vitis vinifera varieties. Article 112 defines a traditional term as a term traditionally used in a Member State to show that a product has a protected designation of origin or geographical indication under Union or national law.

Each protected name has a specification (pliego de condiciones) that sets the requirements for the product. A Consejo Regulador is the body that manages one or more protected names. Under Law 6/2015, names whose area extends over more than one autonomous community are handled at state level, and the Ministry carries out the official control before marketing. Examples are DO Cava, which covers parts of Aragón, Catalonia, the Valencian Community, Extremadura, La Rioja, Navarre and the Basque Country, and DO Jumilla, in Castilla-La Mancha and Murcia.

In the 2023/2024 campaign, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food counted 103 Spanish wine PDOs in the EU register. In its list, the DOCa term is used by Rioja and Priorat.