Italian Lawmakers Seek to Open Top Wine Labels to Disease-Resistant Grapes

A bipartisan group of Italian lawmakers is moving to let the country’s top wine appellations consider disease-resistant PIWI grape varieties, opening a debate that could reshape part of Italy’s quality wine system as growers face plant disease pressure, climate change, and water limits.

The proposal was presented in Voghera, in the Oltrepò Pavese area of Lombardy, during a conference held as part of the “50 sfumature di Pinot Noir” event. Senator Gian Marco Centinaio of the League, who is vice president of the Senate and a former agriculture minister, and lawmaker Antonella Forattini of the Democratic Party, who leads her party’s group on the Agriculture Committee in the lower house, said they would pursue a bipartisan parliamentary initiative to change Italy’s consolidated wine law.

Their goal is to allow the possible use of PIWI grapes in wines with DOC and DOCG status, the country’s most recognized controlled appellations. Under the plan discussed in Voghera, individual appellations and the consortia that oversee them would still decide whether to admit those grapes into their production rules. The proposal would not impose PIWI varieties on any denomination. It would create a legal path for DOC and DOCG producers to consider them.

PIWI is a term used in Europe for grape varieties bred to resist fungal diseases. Supporters say those varieties can reduce the need for chemical treatments, lower water use, and help vineyards adapt to warmer and less predictable weather. Critics in parts of the wine world have often treated them with caution, arguing that traditional appellations are built on historic grape varieties and long-established identity. That divide was evident in the discussion around the proposal, where PIWI grapes were described by some as a niche curiosity and by others as part of the future of more sustainable viticulture.

The lawmakers said their effort would build on points raised during the conference by several speakers, including professors Attilio Scienza and Luciano Brancadoro and winemaker Nicola Biasi, who has become one of the best-known advocates of PIWI varieties in Italy.

At present, Italy allows PIWI grapes in some lower-tier wines but not in DOC and DOCG labels. According to figures cited at the event, 36 PIWI varieties are currently listed in the national register of vine varieties. Of those, 18 are white grapes and 18 are red. Cultivation of at least some of those varieties is authorized in Piedmont, Lombardy, Trentino-Alto Adige, Veneto, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Emilia-Romagna, Marche, Abruzzo, Lazio, and Campania, though the rules vary from one region to another. Wineries can use them for IGT wines as long as they comply with local regulations and the relevant production standards.

That means Italy already has a legal and agricultural base for PIWI cultivation, but its use remains limited when it comes to the wines that carry the strongest link to place and tradition. Supporters of the proposed reform say that gap no longer reflects either scientific progress or European rules. According to the lawmakers and speakers at the Voghera event, European legislation already allows member states to open appellation systems to these grapes. Italy, they argue, should give its own denominations the option to decide for themselves.

The issue matters because DOC and DOCG wines sit at the center of Italy’s premium wine identity and export strategy. Any change involving grape eligibility touches not only farming methods but also market positioning, labeling, and the balance between innovation and tradition. A legal opening for PIWI grapes could prove more relevant in areas where humid conditions and fungal disease create heavy pressure for repeated treatments in the vineyard. It could also matter in regions facing more frequent heat stress and tighter water availability.

Backers of the change say resistant varieties can help lower environmental impact by reducing the number of vineyard passes needed for plant protection. They also argue that the reform would leave control where Italy’s appellation system traditionally places it: with the consortia and producers who write and defend each denomination’s rule book. Under that approach, some DOC or DOCG areas could move quickly to test the option, while others could reject it entirely.

Forattini and Centinaio said they plan to act in the coming weeks and aim to complete the legislative path before the end of the current legislature. That timeline could prove ambitious, since any amendment to wine law would need political agreement and likely close consultation with producers, regions, and consortia. Even so, the public alignment of lawmakers from the League and the Democratic Party gives the idea a broader base than many agricultural proposals usually have in Italy’s polarized political system.

The setting of the announcement was also notable. Oltrepò Pavese is one of Italy’s important sparkling wine and Pinot Noir territories, and the event focused on a grape associated with classic European wine identity rather than experimental breeding. Bringing the PIWI debate into that context suggested an effort to place resistant varieties inside the mainstream of Italian wine policy, not at its edges.

Any eventual reform would still leave difficult questions for appellation authorities. They would need to decide whether and how PIWI grapes fit the taste profile, history, and commercial identity of each denomination. They would also need to weigh how consumers might respond to changes in production rules for labels long tied to native or traditional varieties. For producers already working with PIWI grapes in IGT wines, however, the proposal points to a possible route into more prestigious categories if local denominations decide the benefits outweigh the risks.

The debate is now likely to move from conference halls and specialist circles into Parliament, where lawmakers will have to decide whether Italy’s top wine classifications should remain tied only to established varieties or be opened, case by case, to grapes bred for resistance and lower environmental impact.