The countries which are part of the EU are subject to its respective wine regulations which fall under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and are made up of numerous categories, the aim of which is to sustain a balanced, open market amongst its member states. The aforementioned regulations form a framework which defines the minimum quality standards by which the EU member states must abide. That being said, the specifics of the regulations can vary slightly from country to country. Amongst other factors, the law specifies that all wines intended for sale are to be formally sensorially assessed prior to entering the market. The purpose of the sensorially assessment is to classify the wine in its respective quality category as well as to determine the optional protected geographical indications or traditional specialities guaranteed under which the wine is to be sold. This research concludes that Slovenia’s white wine production exceeds that of red wine production, there is a higher proportion of varietal wine opposed to generic wine, the production of wines without the PTP label is higher than of wines that do have it, and the most commonly sold wines include dry wines and quality wines. The findings showcase that all of the chosen quality indicators have a significant impact on the final sensorial evaluation of the product, these include the color, variety, level of sweetness, the PTP label, and the origins of the wine. Over the course of this study, from 2001 up to 2019, we found that the wines which received a statistically better grade were white over red, varietal wine opposed to generic wine, wines without the PTP label over ones with the label and sweet wines over their less sweet alternatives. The statistically highest grades were rewarded to wines from wine-growing region Podravje, and when examining wine-growing subregion the highest grade was awarded to wines from Bela krajina.
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