Australia will be granted easier access to the EU markets for its wine industry, but will not be allowed to use names associated with European wines, according to New Europe’ online report.
"The agreement provides important safeguards for EU wine interests. It ensures the protection of Geographical Indications and traditional expressions for EU wines in Australia and beyond", Dacian Cioloş, Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development was quoted as saying.
"The agreement is a win-win outcome and achieves a balanced result for European and Australian wine makers. Crucially, we have obtained the commitment that Australian wine producers will phase out the use of key EU Geographical Indications and traditional expressions for wine. This is of utmost importance for European producers".
This means that Australian producers will have to drop terms like Burgundy, Chablis, Champagne, Graves, Manzanilla, Marsala, Moselle, Port, Sauterne, Sherry and White Burgundy within the next year. It will also be forbidden to use expressions like “Champagne style”, “imitation” and similar.
Australia is the sixth largest wine producer and fourth largest wine exporter in the world. The $5.5 billion industry exports to over 100 countries. In 2009, the EU imported € 643 million (NZD$1.15 billion) of Australian wines and exported €68 million worth of wines to Australia. - Source New Europe