1. Two seals, one register
The EU runs one register of protected names for food, under Regulation 1151/2012, and olive oil has more entries in it than any product except cheese. A Protected Designation of Origin (PDO — DOP in Italian, DOP in Spanish, ΠΟΠ in Greek, AOP in French) means the olives were grown, milled and in most cases bottled inside the named area, from the varieties the specification lists, by the methods it describes. A Protected Geographical Indication (PGI — IGP, ΠΓΕ) requires at least one stage inside the area and leaves more room: Olio di Puglia IGP covers a whole region and a long list of varieties; Toscano IGP the same.
Each name has a published specification — the disciplinare, the pliego — that sets the boundary, the permitted varieties and their minimum shares, the maximum yield, sometimes the harvest window and the extraction temperature, and usually a chemical and sensory profile tighter than the generic extra virgin limits. A control body checks compliance and numbers the labels.
2. What is guaranteed
| Promise | PDO | PGI |
|---|---|---|
| Olives grown in the area | Yes | At least one stage in the area |
| Milled in the area | Yes | Usually |
| Named varieties, minimum shares | Yes | Often, with a longer list |
| Tighter chemical limits than generic EVOO | Usually | Sometimes |
| Panel-tasted to a defined profile | Usually | Sometimes |
| Harvest date on the label | No | No |
| A particular intensity or quality tier | No | No |
What the two seals commit a producer to under Regulation 1151/2012 and a typical olive-oil specification.
The strongest guarantee is the variety. A PDO Kolymvari Chanion Kritis is Koroneiki, at least 90% by its specification; a PDO Terra di Bari Castel del Monte is at least 80% Coratina; PDO Kalamata is Koroneiki with a little Mastoidis; PDO Makris is the Makri olive of one Thracian village. Where the bottle does not name its variety, the seal often does.
3. What is not
A seal does not tell you when the fruit was picked, how long the oil sat in a tank, or whether it is fresh. It does not rank oils inside the designation — a PDO Kalamata from a careless mill and one from a careful estate carry the same mark. It does not mean the oil is better than an unsealed one from the same hills: many of the best producers in this library bottle outside the scheme because their estate is too small, their variety is not on the list, or they pick earlier than the specification allows. Laconiko, Pamako and The Governor carry no seal; Terra Creta’s Grand Cru does not use the PDO its Estate line does.
The seal fixes the place and the variety. The producer still decides everything that makes the oil good.
4. Designations in the library
| Designation | Country | Variety the specification centres on | In the library |
|---|---|---|---|
| Olio di Puglia IGP | Italy | Coratina, Ogliarola, Peranzana and others | Guglielmi, Le Ferre |
| Toscano IGP | Italy | Frantoio, Moraiolo, Leccino | Several Tuscan oils |
| PDO Kolymvari Chanion Kritis | Greece | Koroneiki | Terra Creta Estate line |
| PGI Chania Kritis | Greece | Koroneiki | Agia Marina Premium |
| PDO Messara | Greece | Koroneiki | Oleum Crete |
| PDO Sitia Lasithiou Kritis | Greece | Koroneiki | Chrisopigi |
| PDO Kalamata | Greece | Koroneiki | Iliada |
| PDO Makris | Greece | Makri | Kyklopas Ages |
| DOP Priego de Córdoba | Spain | Picudo, Hojiblanca, Picual | Córdoba oils |
Designations behind oils in the library, with the variety each specification is built around. Check the oil page for whether a given bottling uses the seal.
5. How to use them
Use a seal to learn the variety and the place when the label does not say, and to rule out a “Greek” oil that was merely bottled in Greece. Then look for the things the seal cannot give you: a harvest year, a named estate or mill, a polyphenol figure with a method. A sealed oil with those is a good buy. A sealed oil without them is a correct one.