Abbreviation for "Districtus Austriae Controllatus", the Austrian designation for a regionally typical and origin-controlled quality wine, which corresponds analogously to the French Appellation d'Origine Protégée (AOP). A reorganisation of the quality system in Austria in this respect was established in the 1990s by representatives of the winegrowers' association, the wine trade, ÖWM (wine marketing service company) and the Ministry of Agriculture. The aim of these endeavours was and is to emphasise the distinctiveness of Austrian wine and strengthen its identity in order to hold its own against increasing competition from Europe and overseas. Similar to France, Italy and Spain, the origin of the wine is being given greater consideration and emphasised. To illustrate the motivation, the difference between "Romanesque" and "Germanic" wine law should be clarified.
Romanic and Germanic wine law
While in Germany and Austria the focus is on the must weight or grape variety in terms of quality, Romance wine law characterises wines according to their origin. In Austria, a consumer usually names a variety when ordering, for example Grüner Veltliner, Zweigelt or Blaufränkisch. However, this does not provide any information about the origin; the wine can come from any wine-growing region in Lower Austria, Burgenland or Styria. The differences in flavour can then be relatively large, mainly due to different soil conditions. On the other hand, a consumer from a Romance country will not usually name a grape variety, but an area such as Alentejo, Barolo, Beaujolais, Brunello di Montalcino, Chablis, Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Chianti, Rioja or Vinho Verde. In France in particular, the designation of a wine estate such as Château Cheval Blanc, Château Latour, Château Margaux, Château Mouton-Rothschild or Château d'Yquem also traditionally corresponds to a narrower designation of origin.
The wine-growing region (and in France sometimes also the vineyard) therefore implicitly refer to a very specific type of wine. If you buy a Chablis, for example, you simply know that it is a dry, single-varietal French white wine made from Chardonnay. Among other things, the minimum alcohol content and maximum yield are also defined. And if it is one of the seven Grand Cru vineyards (privileged Chablis sub-areas), whose name is also stated on the label, then even stricter requirements apply. It is also clear that a Rioja is a Spanish red wine made from Tempranillo, and a Vino Nobile di Montepulciano is an Italian red wine made from Sangiovese. For all three wines, however, the grape varieties are not necessarily mentioned on the bottle label.
However, there is a precise description of the respective production regulations, according to which the wines are tested by tasting and analysed using measurement methods before they can be marketed. Since wines are defined according to their origins in the Romance system, the origin corresponds to a wine description; in Germanic wine law, on the other hand, no specific wines are...
