The Importance of Designations of Origins of Italian Wines for Consumers in United Kingdom

The construction of Designations of Origin in Europe and in the World originates from a masterful reworking of the soil and climate potentials of a territory through the culture and the organizational and entrepreneurial capabilities of the populations [Ashenfelter, 2008]. This process yields products (such as wines) of unique quality that meet the specific tastes (and history) of each population, but that also become both a communication tool among different cultures and a vehicle for transmitting an overall wellbeing. In Italy the strengthening of the systems of protection and promotion of Designations of Origin took place during the post-World War II period, when the Italian society and economy needed to find strong points on which to base the country’s social and economic growth [Sylos Labini, 1956]. The creation of agro-food cooperation in the field of Designation of Origin productions was perhaps one of the most significant paths toward finding effective and supportive organizational forms of production, with a distribution of wealth that included all social classes, reducing inequality [Heckman, 2010]. Today, through this process, the Italian Designations of Origin, and in particular those of Emilia-Romagna, are for the population not only a way to produce, but also a stable element of their economic, social, and environmental wellbeing. The research work proposed for presentation winds up the first cycle of study on the importance of the Designations of Origin of Italian wines for the consumers of the three most important countries to which Italy directs the export of its wines (United States, Germany, and United Kingdom).