The oldest known legislation concerning wine is that of the Babylonian King Hammurabi, dating back to 1700 BC. It determined the prices as well as the period during wich wine was to be consumed limiting this period to that of the vintage.
During the New Dynasty (Egypt 1.580 0 1.085 BC) viticulture had become so important that amphorae of this period, often have an inscription denoting the area the wine came from, the vine-grower's name and the Pharaon's name (defining that way the year of the wines production) in a way similar to the one applied today.
The amphorae of ancient Greece, of various shapes with two handles, often were used to signify the city that produced and traded the particular wine. This fact made many traders from other cities to imitate those amphorae so that they could sell their own wines. The amphorae had the wine-makers stamp on the one handle and the local ruler's stamp on the other, as well as an inscription with the year of production.
In the museum of Thassos there is a marble slab with the laws concerning wine of that period (420-400 BC). All those facts ddenote that since the earliest days of our civilization efforts were made from the authorities to rule the wine trade.
Today, according to the EC legislation, wines are categorized in two major groups:
Quality Wines Produced in Registered Areas (V.Q.P.R.D.)
As the title signifies, the wines included in this category are of a certain quality and the grapes from wich they are produced, come from a certain geographic area (zone). The producing area (p.e. Archanes) may be included on their label as well as the indication VQPRD.
This category includes the rest of the wines, produced in other areas of the country. The terms concerning their production are not as strict as the ones concerning the previous category. One thing that is not allowed is the indication of the wine-producing area on the wines label.
Local Wines is a subcategory of table wines
A wine that belongs to this category is retsina. It is a table wine wich is named after tradition. In the EC countries, no one except Greece can produce a wine named retsina.
VQPRD wines are (alphabetically listed):
Local wines are (and the list grows every day)
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