Italy’s law of Denominazione di Origine Controllata (DOC) regulates the production and labeling of a significant share of Italian wine. The law intends to give purchasers of a DOC wine a reasonable expectation that a wine labeled as Barbera d’Alba, for instance, will be both a Barbera d’Alba in fact and in style.
It’s easy to appreciate a taste of wine if you just attend to your senses. Because of all things that we drink, wine is perhaps the most sensual. So pour yourself enough to fill a tulip-shaped glass just a quarter full, and let’s go.
Reading wine labels
Trumping whatever esthetic value a wine label may have, its main function is to inform the consumer. So the producer, winery or winemaker, as well as the legal authority where the wine is sold, have an interest in shaping that information.