DOC
An older Italian and Iberian label of controlled origin, now mostly replaced for cheese by DOP.
Also: Denominazione di Origine Controllata, denominación de origen
DOC, Denominazione di Origine Controllata, is the Italian controlled designation best known from wine labels. Before the European schemes of 1992, Italy recognised named cheeses under a 1955 law, and many writers and labels described those cheeses as DOC; Parmigiano Reggiano, Gorgonzola and Pecorino Romano were among the first. Spain uses denominación de origen, or DO, for its regional cheeses such as Manchego and Idiazabal, and Portugal uses the equivalent DOP. For cheese today, the European DOP label has taken over, but older books, menus and shop signs still use DOC, and the meaning is the same: a named cheese, from a named place, made by fixed rules.