#on the bottle

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nyone who is new to the world of wines might be overwhelmed by the huge variety of wines that is available nowadays. Hundreds of wineries produce thousands of wines creating more issues for the customer to choose which wines are of the highest quality, which of those wines really originate from their regions and which of those wines will provide them with the best tastes to suit their desires.

A P P R E C I AT I N G QUALITY WINE

This is where the DOK, IĠT and other quality marks come in. DOK and IĠT were created to regulate wines produced in the EU with wines being able to qualify for quality marks only if they conform to strict criteria including the region of origin, the particular grapes used and the techniques used for production. In Malta, DOK and IĠT wines are mostly recognised through the collar label, often referred to as a banderole which is fixed on the wine bottles. Different quality wines have different banderoles depending on the status of protection that they qualify for – banderoles are pale green in colour in the case of IĠT wines and yellow in the case of DOK wines. In order to avoid counterfeits for the assurance of customers, banderoles are made out of high-security paper and contain an individual number for traceability purposes. On the right side of the banderole, one can also observe a holographic security strip which replaces the excise stamp which can be found on each bottle of wine for sale locally. Consumers, may therefore recognise quality wines easily through the banderoles which in themselves prove both the quality and the traceability of wines. APPRECIATING WINES AT HOME AND WHEN DINING OUT Despite having introduced the quality wine regimes over ten years ago, Maltese consumers are still quite baffled as to the significance of what the quality marks stand for. Having said this, some basic knowledge as to DOK and IĠT has seeped through most of the local population and therefore it is important that consumers are >>

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