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area of origin and that vigilance must be exercised and efforts made in order for
them to be maintained. It accepted that the rules governing the Rioja denomi-
nación de origen calificada were designed to uphold those qualities and
characteristics. The control over bottling was accepted as being in pursuit of the
aim of better safeguarding the quality of the product and, consequently, the
reputation of the designation. The Spanish government, supported by the
Italian and Portuguese governments, and by the Commission, submits that,
without this requirement, the reputation of the Rioja denominación de origen
calificada might in fact be undermined. Transport and bottling outside the
region of production would, in its view, put the quality of the wine at risk.
3.54
The court accepted that the bottling of wine is an important operation which, if
not carried out in accordance with strict requirements, could seriously impair
the quality of the product. Bottling does not involve merely filling empty
containers but normally entails, before filling, a series of complex oenological
operations (filtering, clarifying, cooling, and so on) which, if not carried out in
accordance with the prescribed rules of the trade, may adversely affect the
quality and alter the characteristics of the wine. It was not contested that bulk
transport of wine could seriously impair its quality if not undertaken under
optimum conditions. Although the Court accepted that, in the best conditions,
a wine's characteristics and quality may indeed be maintained when it has been
transported in bulk and bottled outside the region of production, it observed
that in the case of bottling, the best conditions are more certain to be assured if
bottling is done by undertakings established in the region of those entitled to
use the designation and operating under their direct control, since they have
specialised experience and, what is more, thorough knowledge of the specific
characteristics of the wine in question, which must not be impaired or lost at the
time of bottling.
3.55
The Court noted that for Rioja wines transported and bottled in the region of
production, the controls were far-reaching and systematic and were the
responsibility of the totality of the producers themselves, who have a funda-
mental interest in preserving the reputation acquired and that it could be
inferred that the risk to which the quality of the product finally offered to
consumers is exposed was greater where it has been transported and bottled
outside the region of production than when those operations have taken place
within the region. Accordingly, it ruled that the requirement at issue, whose aim
was to preserve the considerable reputation of Rioja wine by strengthening
control over its particular characteristics and its quality, was justified as a
measure protecting the denominación de origen calificada, which may be used
by all the producers concerned and is of decisive importance to them.
