Glossary · Law and labelling
PDO
Also written Protected Designation of Origin, AOP, DOP. Each is a name for the same thing, which is why none of them has an entry of its own.
Definition
A protected name under which every stage of production, processing and preparation must take place in the defined area, using raw materials from it. The strictest of the geographical schemes.
- Subject
- Law and labelling
- Also written
- Protected Designation of Origin, AOP, DOP
In more detail
For cider and perry a PDO controls far more than geography. A typical specification names the permitted cultivars, the maximum yield, the pressing and fermentation methods, minimum and maximum alcohol, residual sugar bands and the carbonation route. Sidra de Asturias and the Normandy cider appellations are examples.
Appellation d’origine protégée in French and denominazione di origine protetta in Italian are the same instrument under national names; the older French AOC continues to be used alongside AOP.
Where this is covered properly
The glossary defines; these pages explain. Each is described in its own words.
Related terms
Terms that belong to the same part of the subject, or that this one is routinely confused with.
Law and labelling
PGI
A protected name requiring that at least one stage of production, processing or preparation takes place in the defined area, and that the product’s reputation or quality is attributable to it.
Law and labelling
TSG
A protected name for a traditional recipe or method rather than a place. A TSG can be made anywhere, provided the specified traditional composition or production method is followed.
Law and labelling
AOC
The French national appellation system, administered by INAO, under which the cider, perry and Calvados appellations of Normandy and Brittany are defined. AOC names are also registered at European level as AOP or PDO.
Law and labelling
Geographical indication
The general term for a protected product name tied to a place, covering PDO, PGI and their equivalents in national systems worldwide.
Law and labelling
Cahier des charges
The product specification behind a French appellation: the binding document that sets out the area, cultivars, cultivation, processing, composition and labelling rules a product must meet to use the name.
Perry
Poiré Domfront
The protected appellation for perry from the Domfrontais in Normandy, requiring a high minimum proportion of local perry pear cultivars, keeving, and bottle carbonation without added gas.
Where to go next
- Cider glossary — The whole vocabulary, by subject and A–Z.
- Comparisons — Terms that are only really clear when set against the thing they are not.
- Search — Finds terms by their aliases and by their spellings in other languages.
Sources
What this page rests on. Where a source is marked as registered rather than read, CiderHQ is recording that the body is authoritative on the subject without claiming to have worked through the document itself. See our evidence policy for what each state means.
eAmbrosia — the EU geographical indications register
European Commission · designation authority · registered as competent for this subject
The single authoritative register of EU PDO, PGI and TSG names, carrying each product specification. Cider and perry designations across France, Spain and elsewhere resolve here.
UK protected geographical food and drink names register
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs · government · passage verified 2026-08-25
The register itself is an index; the substance is in the product specification attached to each entry as a PDF. Eight cider and perry specifications were downloaded and read on 2026-08-24 — the six Three Counties names and the two Welsh ones. Reading them settled a question CiderHQ had previously described in the abstract and got wrong: the Three Counties specifications state a composition table, not a minimum juice content. The Traditional Welsh Perry specification was re-read on 2026-08-25 for the comparison with Austrian fruit-wine law, and its prohibition list transcribed in full: the two instruments turn out to regulate opposite things, one composition and one technique.
Institut national de l’origine et de la qualité (INAO)
INAO · regulator · passage verified 2026-08-24
The Cidre Pays d’Auge cahier des charges was read in full on 2026-08-24, in the version homologated by arrêté of 17 January 2026 and published in the Journal officiel on 21 January. That qualification is not decoration. A revision adopted by the Comité national on 10 September 2025 is currently under the procédure nationale d’opposition, is clearly marked as not prejudging the final text, and specifies carbonation differently from the text in force — as grams of CO2 per litre rather than as a minimum pressure in bar. A summary citing the draft would have put a figure on the page that no producer is held to. CiderHQ records the operative text and says which one it is.