'Vermouth of Turin' recognised officially by European Commission.

Turin is celebrating after the European Commission gave official recognition to the quality label 'Vermouth di Torino', or 'Vermouth of Turin', following a bureaucratic process stretching back 20 years.

The geographical recognition is hugely important to Turin's producers of the historic aromatised wine, generally drunk as an aperitif, as it will protect the drink's "original aspects, from the field of cultivation of officinal herbs to bottling", according to the Vermouth Institute.

"We wanted to create a courageous regulation that distinguished it from other flavoured wines, detailing the alcohol content and the geographical origin of the ingredients", said the Vermouth Institute president Roberto Bava.

According to tradition, merchant Antonio Benedetto Carpano introduced the firstin 1786 in Turin. The drink quickly became popular as an aperitif in Italy and France.

In the late 19th-century the advent of the cocktail found a new use for vermouth, with bartenders finding it an ideal mixer for many cocktails, including the Manhattan and the precursors to the Martini.

The EU's use of a "geographical indication", as a type of indication of source, acts as a certification that the product possesses certain qualities, is made according to traditional methods, or enjoys a certain reputation, due to its geographical origin.

The law is designed to protect the reputation of regional foods, and eliminate the unfair competition and misleading of consumers by non-genuine products which may be of inferior quality or of different flavour.