Formalizing the Complexity / Diversity of Wine Appellations
World wine appellations show a certain complexity and diversity to express their specifications.
The first level of specifications normally appear on the wine bottle labels referring to
aging, wineyards and "climat"/"terroirs", grapes, ... (expressed as reservas, crus, monovarietals, ...).
Nevertheless, the same terms often correspond to different formalizations and specifications of the world appellations.
For example in Bourgogne an AOC (appellation of controlled origin) may refer to
"Regionale", "Village", "PremierCru" or "GrandCru";
however while the PremierCrus are a higher quality type of the Villages AOCs,
the GrandCrus (such as Richebourg, Corton-Charlemagne, Chambertin, ...) make AOC appellations per-se'.
A peculiarity of Bourgogne appellations is that the same GrandCru may be subdivided between different producers.
At the same time, in Bordeaux an AOC GrandCru may be specified in up to 5 different levels (1er to 5eme);
however for a Margaux even the top 1er GrandCru remains part of the Margaux AOC appellation.
On the other hand, other top Bordeaux appellations such as Pomerol (or more generally in France the ChateauNeuf-du-Pape)
traditionally did not include GrandCru specification in their AOC .
In Italy the DOCG (denomination of controlled and guaranteed origin) appellations normally include a "Riserva"
or "Superiore" typologies referring to higher quality wines in terms of aging and grapes selection,
although such requirements are different between the Riservas of the different Italian DOCG appellations
(Brunello di Montalcino and Barolo being the most demanding).
Similarly in Spain the DOC (denomination of controlled origin) foresees a "GranReserva" as the highest quality
typology, that e.g. in the case of Rioja has significantly more stringent aging requirements than similarly specified
GranReserva from APP or GI (geographical indication) appellations in SouthAmerica.
A unified template may be modelled to map the diversity in the implementations of concepts and specifications.
The principle is based on abstracting a high level formalization for the world wine appellations, before dealing
with their characteristics and contents.
Suggestions are welcome.
World wine appellations show a certain complexity and diversity to express their specifications.
The first level of specifications normally appear on the wine bottle labels referring to
aging, wineyards and "climat"/"terroirs", grapes, ... (expressed as reservas, crus, monovarietals, ...).
Nevertheless, the same terms often correspond to different formalizations and specifications of the world appellations.
For example in Bourgogne an AOC (appellation of controlled origin) may refer to
"Regionale", "Village", "PremierCru" or "GrandCru";
however while the PremierCrus are a higher quality type of the Villages AOCs,
the GrandCrus (such as Richebourg, Corton-Charlemagne, Chambertin, ...) make AOC appellations per-se'.
A peculiarity of Bourgogne appellations is that the same GrandCru may be subdivided between different producers.
At the same time, in Bordeaux an AOC GrandCru may be specified in up to 5 different levels (1er to 5eme);
however for a Margaux even the top 1er GrandCru remains part of the Margaux AOC appellation.
On the other hand, other top Bordeaux appellations such as Pomerol (or more generally in France the ChateauNeuf-du-Pape)
traditionally did not include GrandCru specification in their AOC .
In Italy the DOCG (denomination of controlled and guaranteed origin) appellations normally include a "Riserva"
or "Superiore" typologies referring to higher quality wines in terms of aging and grapes selection,
although such requirements are different between the Riservas of the different Italian DOCG appellations
(Brunello di Montalcino and Barolo being the most demanding).
Similarly in Spain the DOC (denomination of controlled origin) foresees a "GranReserva" as the highest quality
typology, that e.g. in the case of Rioja has significantly more stringent aging requirements than similarly specified
GranReserva from APP or GI (geographical indication) appellations in SouthAmerica.
A unified template may be modelled to map the diversity in the implementations of concepts and specifications.
The principle is based on abstracting a high level formalization for the world wine appellations, before dealing
with their characteristics and contents.
Suggestions are welcome.
