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Protected designations and national definitions

A protected name is a promise about origin and method, lodged in a public specification and enforceable at law. It is not a promise about quality, and it is not a ranking.

A protected designation reserves a name. It defines an area, sets out what a producer inside that area must do to use the name — which fruit, which method, which limits — and gives the name legal protection against anyone else. The specification is a public document held on a register, and the register is the authority. A designation of origin such as a PDO or a French AOP requires the character of the product to derive from the place; a geographical indication such as a PGI ties the name to the area through named stages of production, which is a genuinely weaker link and a real legal distinction rather than a matter of prestige. A national definition is a different instrument again: it sets the floor a drink must clear to be sold under a word like cider anywhere in that country, and it usually sets it low.

What none of them does is tell you the cider is good. A specification admits a bone-dry farmhouse bottling and a sweet, heavily filtered commercial one under the same name, and both are entitled to it. Nor does a designation stop anyone outside the area making excellent cider: a maker in Somerset, in Vermont or in Tasmania is free to make anything they can reach, and the only thing they may not do is borrow the protected word. Read a designation as a description of what a name guarantees, not as a verdict on the bottle.

Every designation page here records the structure of its specification rather than reproducing figures CiderHQ has not verified against the register, carries the date the record was taken, and links the register so you can read the current text yourself.

Specifications change

Designations are amended, added and — occasionally — cancelled. Every record below shows the date it was taken. Anyone relying on a specification commercially must read the current text on the register rather than a summary of it.

By country

Grouped by the country whose authority administers the name. Where an instrument operates across a wider scope than one country, its page says so.

Australia (1)

Cider and perry under the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code National definition Cider and perry
The joint Australian and New Zealand food standard that defines cider and perry as fruit wines and governs what may be added to them and how they are labelled.
Recorded as at 2026-08-23.

Canada (1)

Cider and perry in Canadian regulation National definition Cider and perry
The split Canadian position, in which federal law governs labelling and food safety for cider while composition and sale are largely matters for the provinces.
Recorded as at 2026-08-23.

England (7)

Gloucestershire Perry PGI PGI Perry
The protected geographical indication for perry from Gloucestershire, the county that holds the densest surviving population of perry pear varieties in England.
Recorded as at 2026-08-23.
Herefordshire Cider PGI PGI Cider
The protected geographical indication for cider from Herefordshire, one of the three counties whose cider and perry names were registered under the EU scheme and transferred to the UK register after EU exit.
Recorded as at 2026-08-23.
Herefordshire Perry PGI PGI Perry
The protected geographical indication for perry from Herefordshire, the companion registration to the county’s cider name and one of the few legal protections perry holds anywhere.
Recorded as at 2026-08-23.
Gloucestershire Cider PGI PGI Cider
The protected geographical indication for cider from Gloucestershire, registered under the EU scheme alongside the county’s perry name and now held on the UK register as well.
Recorded as at 2026-08-23.
Somerset Cider Brandy Geographical indication Spirit
The protected name for apple spirit distilled in Somerset from Somerset cider and matured in oak, the English structural counterpart to Calvados.
Recorded as at 2026-08-23.
Worcestershire Cider PGI PGI Cider
The protected geographical indication for cider from Worcestershire, the third of the Three Counties names and the smallest of them by production.
Recorded as at 2026-08-23.
Worcestershire Perry PGI PGI Perry
The protected geographical indication for perry from Worcestershire, completing the six Three Counties registrations for cider and perry.
Recorded as at 2026-08-23.

France (14)

Calvados AOC Spirit
The Norman appellation for apple and pear spirit distilled from cider or perry and matured in oak, and the broadest of the three Calvados appellations.
Recorded as at 2026-08-23.
Cidre de Normandie / Cidre normand PGI Cider
The protected geographical indication covering cider made in Normandy and a defined margin around it, the broadest of the French cider designations by volume and by area.
Recorded as at 2026-08-23.
Cidre du Pays d’Auge AOP Cider
The strictest French cider appellation: a closed area, a closed variety list, a mandated blend balance, compulsory maceration and pectic settling, and a sparkle that may only come from fermentation finishing in the bottle.
Recorded as at 2026-08-23.
Poiré Domfront AOP Perry
France’s appellation of origin for perry, covering the Domfrontais in southern Normandy and requiring a substantial proportion of the local Plant de Blanc pear from tall-stem trees.
Recorded as at 2026-08-23.
Calvados Domfrontais AOC Spirit
The Calvados appellation of the Domfrontais, distinguished by a required proportion of pears in the base and by column distillation.
Recorded as at 2026-08-23.
Calvados Pays d’Auge AOC Spirit
The Pays d’Auge appellation for Calvados, restricted to the same Norman district as the cider appellation and requiring double distillation in a pot still.
Recorded as at 2026-08-23.
Cidre and poiré in French national law National definition Cider and perry
The French national rules that decide what may be sold as cidre or poiré outside any appellation, and that set the sweetness terms used across the market.
Recorded as at 2026-08-23.
Cidre de Bretagne / Cidre breton PGI Cider
The protected geographical indication for Breton cider, covering the Brittany region and its historic margins and sitting above the tighter Cornouaille appellation.
Recorded as at 2026-08-23.
Cornouaille AOP Cider
Brittany’s cider appellation of origin, covering a defined area of southern Finistère and restricted to traditional Breton cider varieties fermented as pure juice.
Recorded as at 2026-08-23.
Cidre du Cotentin AOP Cider
The appellation of origin for cider from the Cotentin peninsula, built on a small group of local bitter varieties and the most recently recognised of the Norman cider appellations.
Recorded as at 2026-08-23.
Cidre du Perche AOP Cider
The newest French cider appellation, recognised in 2020 for the wooded bocage on the Norman marches, and one of only two that forbid pitching yeast into the first fermentation.
Recorded as at 2026-08-23.
Pommeau de Normandie AOC Other product
The Norman appellation for pommeau, a fortified apéritif made by blending unfermented apple must with Calvados and maturing the blend in oak.
Recorded as at 2026-08-23.
Pommeau de Bretagne AOC Other product
The Breton appellation for pommeau, blending unfermented Breton apple must with Breton cider spirit and maturing the result in oak.
Recorded as at 2026-08-23.
Pommeau du Maine AOC Other product
The appellation for pommeau made in the Maine, the third of the French pommeau designations and the least widely distributed.
Recorded as at 2026-08-23.

Germany (1)

Hessischer Apfelwein PGI Cider
The protected geographical indication for Hessian apple wine, the still, high-acid German cider tradition centred on Frankfurt and its surrounding orchards.
Recorded as at 2026-08-23.

Norway (2)

Sider frå Hardanger PGI Cider
Norway’s protected geographical indication for cider from the Hardangerfjord, and the first alcoholic product in the country to hold one — with a production-stage requirement stricter than the category it sits in.
Recorded as at 2026-08-23.
Sider frå Sogn PGI Cider
The second Norwegian protected cider name, from one of the northernmost commercial fruit regions in the world, and the only cider designation CiderHQ holds that defines five styles inside the protected name and requires residual sugar on the label.
Recorded as at 2026-08-23.

Portugal (1)

Sidra da Madeira PGI Cider
Portugal’s protected cider name, from the mountain villages of Madeira — the one Portuguese cider tradition substantial enough to have been registered, and a designation almost every cider reference omits.
Recorded as at 2026-08-23.

Spain (2)

Sidra de Asturias DOP DOP Cider
The protected designation of origin for Asturian cider, restricting fruit to authorised Asturian varieties grown in the region and covering both still natural cider and a sparkling category.
Recorded as at 2026-08-23.
Euskal Sagardoa / Sidra Natural del País Vasco PDO Cider
The Basque protected designation for natural cider, whose current specification runs across the French frontier as well as the Spanish one — no sugar, no water, no filtration, and carbon dioxide only from the ferment itself.
Recorded as at 2026-08-23.

United Kingdom (1)

Cider and perry in United Kingdom excise law National definition Cider and perry
The definition that decides what may be taxed and sold as cider or perry across the whole United Kingdom, set by excise law rather than by any geographical scheme.
Recorded as at 2026-08-23.

United States (1)

United States hard cider tax class National definition Cider and perry
The federal tax definition that decides which fermented apple and pear products qualify for the United States hard cider rate, and which are taxed and labelled as wine.
Recorded as at 2026-08-23.

Wales (2)

Traditional Welsh Cider PGI PGI Cider
The protected geographical indication for cider made in Wales by traditional whole-juice methods, secured decades after the English county names and written to a tighter specification.
Recorded as at 2026-08-23.
Traditional Welsh Perry PGI PGI Perry
The protected geographical indication for perry made in Wales from whole pear juice by traditional methods, the companion registration to Traditional Welsh Cider.
Recorded as at 2026-08-23.

What the abbreviations mean

The same instrument is labelled differently depending on which authority administers it and which language the label is written in.

The designation kinds CiderHQ records. AOP and AOC are both French appellations under INAO; the distinction is which family of products each is administered and labelled under, not a difference in the underlying instrument.
Kind	What it means	What it ties the name to
PDO	Protected designation of origin, the strongest of the EU and UK geographical schemes.	The whole character of the product must derive from the place, and every production stage happens there.
PGI	Protected geographical indication.	At least one named stage of production happens in the area, and the name carries a reputation linked to it.
TSG	Traditional speciality guaranteed.	A traditional recipe or method, with no geographical restriction at all.
AOP	Appellation d’origine protégée — the French administration of a PDO.	The same link as a PDO, administered by INAO and labelled in French.
AOC	Appellation d’origine contrôlée — the older French national instrument, used for the cider spirits and mistelles.	The same link as a PDO under French national law, with EU protection alongside it.
DOP	Denominación de origen protegida — the Spanish and Italian administration of a PDO.	The same link as a PDO, administered by a national or regional regulating council.
National definition	A legal definition of a product word in one country, usually written into excise or food law.	Nothing geographical. It sets the floor a drink must clear to be sold under the word.
Geographical indication	A geographical protection outside the EU and UK schemes, or a spirit-drink indication.	Varies by instrument. The designation page names the register and the authority.

Where to go next

Cider regions and countries — the places these names belong to.
Styles — what defines a category, which is a different question from what a designation reserves.
How CiderHQ handles evidence — why the requirements on these pages are stated as structure rather than as figures.