AUSTRALIAN Grape & Wine is urging anyone with an interest in the grape variety prosecco, or the ongoing rights to use other grape variety terms, to make sure their voice is heard.
This comes as the Australian Government opens a public objections process for a range of proposed European Union wine geographical indications (GIs).
Australian Grape & Wine chief executive Lee McLean it was “absolutely critical” that Australian grape growers and winemakers submit their views to the government through the public objections process.
“Prosecco is a grape variety just like shiraz or chardonnay,” Mr McLean said. “We need to let political decision-makers in Australia and the EU know that maintaining our ability to use grape variety names is an essential element of rules-based trade and investment in our sector.”
Through the negotiation for the Australia-European Community Agreement on Trade in Wine (Wine Agreement), the EU is seeking protection for 50 new wine GIs –
including prosecco and picpoul de pinet – as well as existing GI updates.
The public objections process is a way for interested stakeholders to provide submissions of objection to the wine GIs for which the EU is seeking protection for in Australia.
It is the second time the grape variety name prosecco has been subjected to a public objections process in Australia under the agreement.
The last attempt by the EU to stop Australian producers from using the name prosecco was quashed by the Registrar of Trademarks in legal proceedings in 2012 and 2013 on the ground that prosecco is a grape variety name.
“We understand some will be frustrated by the requirement to re-prosecute the arguments they made in 2012–13, particularly given the common-sense outcome delivered by the Registrar of Trademarks at the time,” Mr McLean said.
“However, it’s critical that every grower and every winemaker with an interest in prosecco takes the time to lodge a submission into this process.”
Australian prosecco has grown to more than $200 million dollars in value, with regions like Victoria’s King Valley investing millions in vineyards, production facilities and associated tourism infrastructure.
The variety is grown in 20 regions across Australia and is fetching the second-highest average grape price of any white grape variety at the moment.
Mr McLean said that to lose the right to use prosecco now, when the sector is under significant economic pressure, would be devastating to these regions and their communities.
It would also leave Australian grape and wine businesses wondering which grape varieties will be targeted next by the EU, he said.
“We are not interested in entertaining the cynical protectionism that is driving the EU’s push to stop Australian producers from using the variety name prosecco,” he said.
“We need everyone with an interest to fight for a common-sense outcome that retains our right to use prosecco and sets a strong precedent for how other grape variety names will be treated in the future.”
Submissions must be lodged before noon on Friday, April 21, through the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry’s Have Your Say webpage.
