Wine producers have praised the federal government’s resolution to stroll away from a European Union free commerce deal, arguing EU negotiators tried to “change the rules of the game midway through the game” to undercut the nation’s multimillion-dollar business.
EU negotiators, locked in discussions with Trade Minister Don Farrell, pushed for prohibitions on Australian producers utilizing the prosecco identify in a bid to protect it for growers within the prosecco area of Northern Italy.
Prosecco can also be broadly recognised as a grape selection, although a decree was made underneath European legislation in 2009 to rename the range Glera.
For Zonte’s Footstep co-owner and prosecco producer Anna Fisher, an settlement to redefine a grape selection right into a geographical area would have entailed a dramatic rebrand of her personal merchandise at a “significant” value to her business.
“We would have had to rebrand an entire product range that we have,” she mentioned.
“It is kind of like turning around suddenly and saying we can’t use Shiraz, because the grape variety originated in Persia, therefore they have control over the grape variety.
“It puts the whole of the prosecco industry in a position where we suddenly have to come up with a way of explaining how that is different from a sparkling white or a Brut.
Ms Fisher has vineyards in McLaren Vale, the Barossa Valley, Adelaide Hills, and Langhorne Creek and prosecco is her third highest-selling product in the domestic market.
Grapes vs. regions
Wines are classified according to the variety of grape grown to produce them.
Pinot Noir and Shiraz are both red wines but comes from different grapes, each with distinct flavours.
Until 2009, the prosecco grape was seen in the industry as a variety rather than belonging to a geographical location, but Italian growers moved to change that and fix the term to Northern Italy, just as the words Champagne and Burgundy denote wines from those particular regions in France.
Australian exporters are blocked from using the term in Europe but the EU’s trade representatives also pushed for the ban to extend into Australia’s domestic market.
For Australia Wine and Grape CEO Lee McLean, the impact of controlling grape varieties outweighed any potential upside from the deal.
“We don’t mind the concept at all of protecting geographical indications when it comes to wine, we’ve done it for years,” he mentioned.
“We in Australia can’t call our wines a Burgundy or a Champagne, for instance.
“The difference is we had the grape variety names to fall back on and that works in our favour because consumers know what a pinot noir is or a Shiraz.
“In this instance, what the EU is trying to protect here is the grape variety name, like Shiraz or Chardonnay.
“So they have changed the rules of the game, midway through the game, and we don’t think that is fair or reasonable and we are really pleased the government has stood firm on it.”
‘A genuine commercial concern’
Australia’s annual prosecco manufacturing is valued at $200m and rising.
“Prices have been good for prosecco grapes in an otherwise pretty depressed market,” Mr McLean mentioned.
“There is a genuine commercial concern here.”
But the collapse in commerce talks will doubtless trigger some disappointment in some producers.
The energy of the EU
The EU is a high-income buying and selling bloc with 27 member nations and about 450 million shoppers.
Australia doesn’t have a free-trade settlement in place with the EU, which suggests exporters face a spread of impediments coming into the market.
In the 12 months to September 2023, the market worth of wine exports to mainland Europe hit $183m, in response to Wine Australia.
An settlement might have lowered tariffs and eased the certification necessities companies want to leap by means of to get into Europe, although Mr McLean mentioned this was not sure.
And whereas the market worth doesn’t match the worth of exports to the US at $366m or the UK at $354m, Wirra Wirra CEO Matthew Deller mentioned producers had been confronting extra “headwinds than tailwinds” and a free commerce deal can be “extremely helpful”.
‘Headwinds and tailwinds’
“It’s not a worse situation than we were already in,” he mentioned following the breakdown in talks.
“But it would be great for South Australian wine producers to have a better situation, it’s a very challenging wine market globally for the Australian category.”
The McLaren Vale producer ships bottles to the Netherlands, Germany and Scandinavia.
“They can be really good markets,” he mentioned.
“Australia can’t rely on one market, we just have to do well in every major market in the world.”
Mr Deller mentioned any future take care of the Europeans can be “tough” with either side working to guard struggling farmers.
“With any negotiation you need to find common ground and find those gaps but I’m not envious of the negotiators in this one,” he mentioned.
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
