EU: Wine – Argentinean Brunello and South African Amarone?
Staff Writer - February 9, 2004
Great Italian wine name-snatching alarm
Open the doors to selling Argentinean Brunello, South African Amarone, New Zealand Morellino, Australian Vinsanto, Chilean Recioto and Gutturnio "Made in USA".
 This is the alarmed cry of Coldiretti, the Italian association of agricultural growers, in answer to the proposed European Commission amendment to current rules which was submitted to the technical committee and could be approved in the near future, notwithstanding the Italian and other producing countries opposition.
The proposal seeks to amend Provision No.753/02, says Coldiretti, dealing with the designation , denomination and presentation methods, as well as the protection of European wines. The provision was scheduled to be applied starting February 1, 2004 and would have guaranteed Italy the exclusive use of 17 traditional "mentions", or names, such as Amarone, Brunello, Est! Est! Est!, Gutturnio, Lacryma Christi, Morellino, Recioto, Vino Nobile and Vinsanto on wine labels.
According to the new proposal, Coldiretti highlights, no "mention" will be reserved exclusively either to Italy or any other European Union country, thus freeing the use of such names to any country worldwide, provided that production meets pre-defined criteria. The decision is justified by the will to reach an agreement over international commerce, but, according to Coldiretti, it risks braking the links between products and their traditional production area, which represents the true added value of the Italian and European vitivinicolture.
In fact, reports Coldiretti, the "mention" is traditionally used to define wines characterized by well-defined production methods, aging, quality, color or event, obtained in a specific area strictly connected with the history and culture of each wine type.
The step backwards in protecting the "mentions", which represent important pieces of the Italian and European enology, according to Coldiretti opens the door to possible worldwide production of lower quality wine imitations, with names related to European quality wines without having any of the original characteristics.
This is a gift to international "wine piracy", continues Coldiretti, and a blow to the Italian production which has already been heavily hit in its denomination of origins, causing damages in the billions of Euros to the export industry. In 2003, wine export showed a regression of 17% by volume and 2% economic decrease.
According to a research conducted by Nomisma, reports Coldiretti, in the United States alone the volume of sales of Italian imitations is almost an a par with the export of Italian wines to the US. In other words, every other Italian wine is an imitation and one can easily find bottles of Rosé Chianti, Sangiovese, Refosco and Barbera, as well as Barolo, Super Piedmontese, Moscato and Malvasia produced in California, with "DOC" such as "Napa Valley" or "Sonoma County".
In reality, says again Coldiretti, there are many countries where local wines are sold as if they were Italian. The most imitated ones are Chianti, Lambrusco, Marsala and Grappa liquor.
Italy is the second wine producing country in Europe, counting on different wines from among 427 DOCG, DOC and IGT, which represent 60% of the national wine production, generating 8.5-billion Euros and contributing over 2.5-billion Euros in export, which is, the largest export value of agriculture and food products.
The fight against the "agro-piracy" is a fundamental transition within the WTO negotiation, to the advantage of local development of all countries involved. The safeguarding of typical food products threatened by international forgery is a choice that promotes market transparency, and for Europe and Italy means protection from a grave economic and occupational crisis, concludes Coldiretti.
The "stolen" mentions
Amarone, Cannellino, Brunello, Est!Est!Est!, Falerno, Governo all'uso Toscano, Gutturnio, Lacryma Cristi, Lambiccato, Morellino, Recioto, Sciacchetra' (or Sciactra'), Sforzato (or Sfurzat), Torcolato, Vergine, Vino Nobile, Vin Santo (or Vino Santo or Vinsanto).
Source: Coldiretti - Translated from Italian by WineCountrey.IT |
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