traditional terms, are words or phrases used on wine labels that enjoy special protection within the eu. They can be phrases such as Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée or Vin de Pays which are alternatives to pdo or pgi. They can also be ‘the description of a product characteristic’ referring to production method (e.g. rancio, passito, eiswein), ageing method (e.g. sur lie, riserva, garrafeira), colour (e.g. chiaretto), place of production (e.g. château), or, rather more obscurely, ‘a particular event linked to the history of a PDO or PGI wine’ (e.g. Liebfraumilch). Terms such as château, sur lie, vintage, classic, etc. have been the source of some controversy as non-EU producers have protested that the EU should not limit the rights of all producers to use words that are purely descriptive or in the public domain.
