EU Wine-Growing Zones: A to C III, Enrichment and Sugar
EU Wine-Growing Zones: A to C III, Enrichment and Sugar
Every vineyard in the EU sits in a wine-growing zone. There are six: A, B, C I, C II, C III (a) and C III (b), running roughly from the coolest, most northerly vineyards to the warmest, most southerly ones. The zone is set by law, region by region, in Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013, Annex VII, Appendix 1 ?.
The zone matters because it decides:
- how much you may raise a wine's natural alcohol (enrichment, or chaptalisation);
- whether you may do it with sugar (sucrose), or only with grape must;
- the highest total strength an enriched wine may reach;
- the lowest strength a product may have to be sold as "wine";
- the dates after which enrichment is no longer allowed.
Everything below is taken from the consolidated text of Regulation 1308/2013 (version of 18 August 2026) and Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/934 (version of 29 December 2024). Each rule has a (?) beside it that opens the law itself. Your national authority can apply stricter rules, and some decisions (such as an exceptional-year increase) are theirs to make, so check with them before you rely on a limit.
Which zone am I in?
The Appendix lists each zone by member state and region. Where a whole country is in one zone, that is simple. France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Romania, Croatia, Bulgaria, Greece and Cyprus are split between zones.
| Zone | Where (summary of Annex VII, Appendix 1) |
|---|---|
| A | Germany (except Baden); Luxembourg; Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Ireland, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland and Sweden; Czech Republic: Čechy |
| B | Germany: Baden; France: Alsace, Lorraine, Champagne, Jura, Savoie and the listed Loire departments, and any French department the Annex does not name; Austria; Czech Republic: Morava and the rest of the country outside Čechy; Slovakia: all regions except Tokaj; Slovenia: Štajerska Slovenija, Prekmurje, Bizeljsko Sremič, Dolenjska, Bela krajina and regions not in C II; Romania: Podișul Transilvaniei; Croatia: Moslavina, Prigorje-Bilogora, Plešivica, Pokuplje, Zagorje-Međimurje |
| C I | France: the listed departments, among them Gironde, Côte-d'Or, Yonne, Saône-et-Loire, Rhône, Dordogne, Lot, Gers, Ariège, Hautes-Pyrénées, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, Hautes-Alpes and Alpes-Maritimes, plus parts of Drôme and Ardèche; Italy: Valle d'Aosta and the provinces of Sondrio, Bolzano, Trento and Belluno; Spain: A Coruña, Asturias, Cantabria, Guipúzcoa, Vizcaya; Portugal: the Vinho Verde area and the listed concelhos of Extremadura; Hungary: all; Slovakia: Tokaj; Romania: areas not in B or C II; Croatia: Hrvatsko Podunavlje, Slavonija |
| C II | France: Aude, Bouches-du-Rhône, Gard, Hérault, Pyrénées-Orientales (except two cantons), Vaucluse, northern Var, parts of Drôme and Ardèche; Italy: Abruzzo, Campania, Emilia-Romagna, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Lazio, Liguria, Lombardy (except Sondrio), Marche, Molise, Piedmont, Tuscany, Umbria, Veneto (except Belluno) and their islands; Spain: the listed northern provinces, among them La Rioja, Navarra, Álava, Burgos, Valladolid, Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, Galicia's Lugo, Orense and Pontevedra, Zaragoza north of the Ebro and the Penedès and Conca de Barberà parts of Tarragona; Slovenia: Goriška Brda, Vipava, Kras, Slovenska Istra; Bulgaria: Danube Plain, Black Sea, Rose Valley; Romania: the listed southern regions; Croatia: Hrvatska Istra, Hrvatsko primorje, Dalmatinska zagora |
| C III (a) | Greece: the listed nomoi (among them Florina, Imathia, Larisa, Achaia, Messinia, Iraklio, Chania, Samos and Santorini); Cyprus: vineyards above 600 metres; Bulgaria: areas not in C II |
| C III (b) | France: Corsica, coastal Var, and the cantons of Olette and Arles-sur-Tech; Italy: Calabria, Basilicata, Apulia, Sardinia, Sicily and their islands; Greece: the rest; Spain: the rest; Portugal: the rest; Cyprus: vineyards at or below 600 metres; Malta; Croatia: Sjeverna Dalmacija, Srednja i Južna Dalmacija |
This table is a summary. The Appendix itself names every department, province and canton, and the boundaries are the administrative units as they stood on 15 December 1981 (for Spain, 1 March 1986; for Portugal, 1 March 1998) ?. If your vineyard is near a boundary, read the Appendix or ask your national authority.
Finland and Latvia are not named in the Appendix, so it assigns them no zone.
- Zone A
- Zone B
- Zone C I
- Zone C II
- Zone C III (a)
- Zone C III (b)
- Outside the EU, or no zone
Approximate. France, Spain, Italy, Portugal and Germany are shaded by department, province, district or state, as the regulation names them; striped areas hold more than one zone, because the regulation divides them by a smaller unit (an arrondissement, canton, commune or wine area). These countries are striped as a whole: Czech Republic (A, B); Slovakia (B, C I); Slovenia (B, C II); Romania (B, C I, C II); Croatia (B, C I, C II, C III (b)); Bulgaria (C II, C III (a)); Greece (C III (a), C III (b)); Cyprus (C III (a), C III (b)). The table above says which regions fall where. Outlines: Natural Earth (public domain).
How much may I raise the alcohol?
Where the weather has made it necessary, a member state may allow the natural alcoholic strength of grapes, must or new wine to be raised, by no more than ?:
| Zone | Maximum increase |
|---|---|
| A | 3 % vol |
| B | 2 % vol |
| C (C I, C II and C III) | 1.5 % vol |
In years when the weather has been exceptionally unfavourable, the member state may raise these limits by 0.5 % vol for the regions concerned, and must tell the Commission. This is the member state's decision, not the winemaker's.
The methods allowed are: adding sucrose, concentrated grape must or rectified concentrated grape must (to grapes, must in fermentation or new wine still fermenting); for must, also partial concentration, including reverse osmosis; and for wine, partial concentration by cooling ?.
Two further limits apply ?:
- Concentrated or rectified concentrated grape must may not increase the initial volume by more than 11 % in zone A, 8 % in zone B and 6.5 % in zone C.
- Concentration may not reduce the initial volume by more than 20 %, nor raise the natural alcohol by more than 2 % vol.
May I use sugar?
Sucrose may be added only by dry sugaring, and only in zones A, B and C, except in vineyards in Greece, Spain, Italy, Cyprus and Portugal, and in the French departments under the courts of appeal of Aix-en-Provence, Nîmes, Montpellier, Toulouse, Agen, Pau, Bordeaux and Bastia ?. France may authorise dry sugaring in those departments as an exception, and must notify the Commission.
Where sucrose is not allowed, enrichment has to be done with concentrated or rectified concentrated grape must, or by concentration.
How strong may an enriched wine be?
Enrichment and concentration may not take the total alcoholic strength above ?:
| Zone | Highest total strength after enrichment |
|---|---|
| A | 11.5 % vol |
| B | 12 % vol |
| C I | 12.5 % vol |
| C II | 13 % vol |
| C III | 13.5 % vol |
Member states may raise this for red wine to 12 % vol in zone A and 12.5 % vol in zone B, and may set their own level for wines with a protected designation of origin or geographical indication.
The minimum strength of "wine"
To be sold as wine, a product must have an actual alcoholic strength of at least 8.5 % vol if it comes only from grapes harvested in zones A and B, and at least 9 % vol in the other zones. A wine with a PDO or PGI may go down to 4.5 % vol ?.
Wine's total strength is capped at 15 % vol (with further exceptions for some PDO wines), but a wine made without any enrichment may reach 20 % vol in zones C I, C II and C III, and in the parts of zone B where white wines with the PGIs "Franche-Comté" and "Val de Loire" may be produced ?.
When may I enrich?
Except where exceptional weather justifies a derogation, enrichment, acidification and de-acidification may be carried out only on the produce of the harvest just past, and not ?:
- in zone C after 1 January;
- in zones A and B after 16 March.
Concentration by cooling, and the acidification and de-acidification of wines, may be done all year round. The processes must be carried out in the wine-growing zone where the grapes were harvested, and must be declared to the competent authority.
Acidification and de-acidification
The current text (as amended by Regulation (EU) 2021/2117) allows acidification and de-acidification in every zone, with the same limits everywhere ?:
- acidification: up to 4 g/l expressed as tartaric acid (53.3 meq/l);
- de-acidification of wine: up to 1 g/l expressed as tartaric acid (13.3 meq/l).
The same product may not be both acidified and enriched (except under a Commission derogation), nor both acidified and de-acidified. Acidification and de-acidification of a wine must take place in the zone where its grapes were harvested.
How MakeWine uses your zone
When your site or block has an EU wine-growing zone, MakeWine uses that zone's enrichment limit and sucrose rule when you record a sugar addition to a grape wine. It warns you if an addition goes over the limit, or uses sucrose where the law does not allow it. It never blocks you: you know your vineyard, your authority and any exceptional-year decision better than we do.
Where your whole country is in one zone, MakeWine fills it in for you. Where your country is split, you choose your zone, with example regions to help you.
Sources
- Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013, Annex VII Appendix 1 (the zones), Annex VII Part II (the definition of wine) and Annex VIII Part I (enrichment, acidification, de-acidification), consolidated version of 18 August 2026.
- Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/934, Article 2 (areas where wine may reach 20 % vol), consolidated version of 29 December 2024.