Lugana Consortium Updates Statute to Strengthen Wine Protection Measures

With the decree signed in recent days by the Director General of National Agricultural and Agri-Food Policies, Dr. Ambrosio, the new Statute, revised in accordance with the new regulations imposed by Law No. 164 “New disciplinary rules for wine denominations,” has become official — making it one of the first in Italy to do so. The regulation particularly concerns “provisions on voluntary protection consortia and interprofessional councils for denominaciones de origen and typical geographical indications.”

The Statute was previously approved, unanimously, by the General Assembly of the Consortium, during the session held on December 16 last year. During the same meeting, the “Internal Regulations of the Consortium” was also approved. This instrument will regulate the future of the associative life and protection of Lugana, not only for members but for the wider community as well.

This is the first time that this Consortium has adopted such an important instrument, which, following the recently issued decree, will lead to a new operational phase aimed at greater protection of the entire Lugana production.

Innovations in voting system and commissions

Among the innovations that this regulation will introduce, of notable interest is the new voting formula within the assembly, calculated through weighted votes assigned proportionally based on the total reported quantity of product for all protected designations during the harvest campaign immediately preceding the assembly session.

The reported quantities include DOC-grade grape production; reported wine production; bottled wine, as recorded in the bottling register: these are the necessary requirements for calculating votes assigned to each member. Additionally, votes are further based on the tons of grapes reported, vinified per hectoliter and bottled per hectoliter.

This calculation might seem complex initially but aims to bring fairness among all members of the Consortium.

With the entry into force of the internal regulation, the activity of the Technical Commission will also commence. This commission has been appointed in recent days and will be tasked with providing an “opinion on technical measures and any other questions that may be submitted to it by the Board of Directors.”

The Committee is chaired by the current President and consists of 4 members, in addition to the president, who are directly appointed by the C.d.A.

Wine Tasting and Protection Committee

Finally, of great importance is the figure of the “Tasting Committee”, composed of 5 members. Its duties will include “tasting wines of the Lugana denomination,” assessing organoleptic characteristics, and providing opinions on the wines’ qualities and faults.

The goal of the Committee, which aims to taste all wines from all producers, members and non-members of the Lugana Consortium, is to evaluate the wines for brand protection and to verify the quality of DOC wines both during production and at sale.

This function is assigned to the Protection Consortium by the same decree, which states: “The Lugana DOC Wines Protection Consortium is tasked with performing functions of protection, enhancement, and general care of interests related to the aforementioned DOC, as well as proposals and consultations with the public administration.”