Districtus Austriae Controllatus (DAC)
Definition - What does Districtus Austriae Controllatus (DAC) mean?
Districtus Austriae Controllatus (DAC) is the classification body for wine in Austria. It was modeled and based on the French Appellation d'Origine Controlee (AOC) classification system. It also works in combination with the German Pradikat system rating wines according to their must weight or sugar level.
Under this system, all Austrian wines will have a "Banderole" located around the neck or the cork of a wine bottle.
WineFrog explains Districtus Austriae Controllatus (DAC)
The Districtus Austriae Controllatus (DAC) system classifies wine depending on their own specific and unique terroir. Wines are classified according to their sugar content, but can also be classified according to vineyard location and their size, vineyards which overlap townships and regions from which the grapes are grown,the degree of the slope of a hill where the vines are grown, alcohol level, etc.
The three classifications and base of the Districtus Austriae Controllatus sytem are:
Wine without geographical indication (originally called "table wines")
- Wine with a protected geographic indication, labeled as Landwein - "Land Wine"
- Wine with a protected designation of origin, labeled as Qualitatswein - "Quality Wine"
*The region of Wachau Valley in Austria has its own unique classification system apart from the rest of Austria.
