Italian lawmakers propose Piwi grape use in DOC and DOCG wines

Italian lawmakers have launched a bipartisan initiative to amend the Consolidated Law on Wine (Testo Unico del vino) to allow the use of disease-resistant Piwi grape varieties in DOC and DOCG productions.

During a conference in Voghera, Senate Vice President Gian Marco Centinaio and Antonella Forattini, head of the Democratic Party in the Chamber's Agriculture Commission, announced plans to submit an inquiry to Agriculture Minister Francesco Lollobrigida. The goal is to lift current prohibitions on interspecific hybrids—crosses between Vitis vinifera and American or Asian species—within protected designations of origin.

The proposal follows discussions on how viticulture can adapt to climate change. Industry experts and producers have requested that the authority to introduce these resistant varieties into production regulations be granted to individual protection consortia rather than being mandated for all denominations.