🏷️ Protected geographical indication (wine)

PGI stands for protected geographical indication (IGP in France). It is a European Union mark on wine linked to a particular area. The rules are looser than for PDO, the protected designation of origin. At least 85% of the grapes must come from the named area.

These wines follow a set list of rules: permitted varieties, area boundaries and minimum strength. But there is more freedom than with PDO: different grapes and methods may be used, so the winemaker can experiment. PGI wines can be simple everyday bottles, but some are very good.

PGI is a Europe-wide category with many national names: IGP in France, IGT in Italy, vino de la tierra in Spain, Landwein in Germany and Austria. In Greece it is PGE, and Moldova and Ukraine have their own IGP and PGI schemes. In the list of EU wine categories PGI stands between ordinary wine and PDO.

Unlike a protected designation of origin (PDO) wine, which may use only Vitis vinifera, a PGI wine can also come from a cross between Vitis vinifera and another Vitis species. The protected name is usually a region or a specific place; a whole country qualifies only in exceptional, justified cases. The label must carry the category, the PGI term with its name, the actual alcoholic strength, the provenance and the bottler.