Origin Term: Level, Not Rank

The standard

A named origin level determines whether a statement refers to a country, a region, an appellation or an estate. Without a named origin level, a statement cannot be distinguished from another level.

Criteria

• The level is named: country, region, appellation or estate
• A finer level automatically includes the coarser ones, not the reverse
• A statement refers to a single level per claim
• A change of level is made recognisable

Distinction

Origin term ≠ Appellation logic: this regulates the admissibility of a level, the named origin level distinguishes between several possible ones. Origin term ≠ Terroir Expression: this concerns a perceptible effect, not the geographic precision of a statement.