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EU deal spells end for Australian 'champagne'

Posted December 2, 2008 10:34:00

Labelling agreement: The EU deal will ease out the use of the term champagne for Australian sparkling wines (www.sxc.hu: Neil Gould, file photo)

The European Union and Australia have signed a new trade agreement that will better protect EU wine labelling and ease the certification of Australian wines entering the 27-nation bloc.

Under the deal, the most comprehensive such accord concluded with a non-EU country, Australia will end the "misuse" of terms like Champagne, Port and Burgundy, which are tied to geographical locations in Europe.

Other contentious names include Chablis, Graves, Manzanilla, Marsala, Moselle, Sauterne, Sherry and White Burgundy.

These will be phased out within one year of the pact entering into force, although the use of "Tokay," from a region in Hungary, will disappear over 10 years.

"Crucially, we have obtained protection for our geographical indications and traditional expressions, which was of the utmost importance for European producers," EU farm commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel said in a statement.

The accord updates an agreement from 1994, which the European Commission said "left out important questions on the misuse of EU significant wine names such as Champagne."

The new deal, signed in Brussels, outlines conditions under which Australia will be able to continue to use certain terms for quality wines, including "vintage," "cream" and "tawny."

The benefits for Australia will include a simpler certification procedure for wines exported to the EU, as well as a more efficient method of recognising wine-making practices.

"This historic agreement demonstrates that careful negotiation can produce a win-win," visiting Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said.

"For Australian producers it means simpler recognition of wine-making techniques and simpler labelling requirements," he said.

- AFP

Tags: food-and-beverage, trade, australia, european-union

Comments (51)

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• Ned2:

  02 Dec 2008 10:49:41am

  So I had better keep my bottles of " Very Old Port" made in Milawa Australia then.

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• Anton2:

  02 Dec 2008 10:52:03am

  Nothing too much that's new here... A lot of winemaking brands in Oz have been moving towards "Varietal" labelling away from "Generic" labelling for years now anyway....

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  • Ourcognitivesurplus:

    02 Dec 2008 11:12:11am

    Yes, my understanding is that Australia, after a threat of legal action, stopped using the term 'champagne' quite awhile ago?

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  • Larry:

    02 Dec 2008 12:33:18pm

    I agree. This is non-news. The French own the names of their countryside and it is improper for Australians to steal those names.

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• Davo:

  02 Dec 2008 10:52:19am

  Next the English will ask non-EU countries not to label food between sliced bread as a "sandwich"
  Ridiculous

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  • cs:

    02 Dec 2008 11:07:42am

    The town of Orange may be onto a winner!!

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  • Spooky:

    02 Dec 2008 11:31:58am

    This is what happens when a country outside of Europe starts its own competitive wine industry. Our wines are quickly becoming successful in their own right, though the French would shudder to think that anything can compare to their own.
    
    So naturally, Europe would want to stamp out any international competition. They have no problems with us selling in Australia, as long as we dont steal their European market share. So they huddle together, make a decree, and hammer it to our door.
    
    We can also expect our cheese industry to be hit next. They might even come after our beer.
    
    Curse the French.

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    • OFistFullOfDollars:

      02 Dec 2008 11:57:59am

      Competition is good. If the French are so insecure then they must see that Australian produce is superior to their nuclear reactor enhanced product. All those nuclear reactors must have an effect on their product.

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    • L:

      02 Dec 2008 12:08:52pm

      Not true....pity the French. All the things the think they are good at someone has superceded them in.
      
      eg Last year's best cabernet sauvignon wasn't a $10 000/bottle Bordeaux, it was a $45 MacLaren Vale.
      
      

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  • Steve:

    02 Dec 2008 11:34:39am

    How is it ridiculous? Champagne is fine sparkling wine made with grapes from France's Champagne region, and yet its nomanclature has been co-opted for $7 bottles of stuff that makes you go blind if you have too much. If it had been invented in 2008, the name would have been trademarked.

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    • Yabbie:

      02 Dec 2008 12:54:25pm

      'Ugg boots' after having been manufactured in Australia for decades were trademarked by an American firm called Decker's. They are nearly all made in China bar the mens Ugg ultra short boots which are made in New Zealand, they are not even sold in Australia.
      
      As a result, Australian 'Ugg boot' manufacturers are not allowed to use the term 'Ugg boot'.
      
      If the French get to keep 'Champagne', we should get our 'Ugg boots' back

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  • AJ:

    02 Dec 2008 12:44:27pm

    Not really ridiculous at all. Only really ignorant people called sparkling white wine from areas other than the region in France, Champagne. It's just legislating the meaning of words, which is unfortunate but obviously necessary.

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• chalkie:

  02 Dec 2008 10:55:00am

  and a good thing too. Now there is no need for derivative terms and Australian wines can be known in their own right.
  
  Of course, imagine the principle extended further: no 'muslin' [muslim] cloth, cheddar cheese, dutch auctions etc. Should we only allow Australians to perform kangaroo courts?
  
  Freedom fries, anyone?

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• Mechashef:

  02 Dec 2008 10:56:30am

  If that is a win-win situation then I'd hate to see one where Australia lost!

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  • Pennee:

    02 Dec 2008 12:45:19pm

    Lost is they're not allowed to import at all. Which is not uncommon for organisations like the EU that do not support free trade.

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• CyberSayer:

  02 Dec 2008 11:00:35am

  Hmm - its OK to lable filtered tap water (containing who-knows-what chemicals) as "Natural Spring Water" but it is now unacceptable to lable wines after their method of manufacture. If the Australian Government is so ready to agree to the EU's parochial demands why are we still being presented with fraudulent labelling on vital fluids we consume daily?

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  • geo:

    02 Dec 2008 11:17:18am

    It's not the method of manufacture, its the place name. Champagne comes from Champagne region in France, Burgundy from Burgundy, etc. Labelling wine as Champagne even though it doesn't come from there is an abuse of the name and misleading. Imagine if someone in Chile was calling their wine Barossa Valley. Wouldn't go down well.

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  • Brad:

    02 Dec 2008 11:17:29am

    Why is this a problem? You'd be complaining if a European cheese company labelled theirs Bega or Bodella.
    
    We should be using terms like Barossa and Hunter rather than French regional names. This is Australia, not France.

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• David L:

  02 Dec 2008 11:00:37am

  So what do you call a Port or Sherry if it isn't?
  
  Semi sweet fortified red wine seems a bit verbose to me.
  
  I just hope there isn't a place called beer.

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  • axkman:

    02 Dec 2008 11:12:15am

    Sorry, David - there is. "Beer is a typical example of a beautiful, unspoilt Devon fishing village. Once a smugglers haven, set in one of the most sheltered positions on the Devon coast, Beer retains a strong seafaring tradition, with skills and business handed down from family to family to the present day." From a website devoted to the town of Beer in Devon. Now what are we going to call that lovely amber fluid?

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  • chalkie:

    02 Dec 2008 11:25:20am

    Just wait until countries try to seek royalties for traditional knowledge like beer making, wheat domestication etc.

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  • snobbe:

    02 Dec 2008 11:51:01am

    We used to call that stuff 'plonk' and it probably still fits the bill.

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  • Lament:

    02 Dec 2008 11:57:03am

    There is, its beautiful and makes great pottery!!
    
    Perhaps a Beer Pot for chrissie?

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• Richard:

  02 Dec 2008 11:05:05am

  Re-labelling of Australian wines has already begun. You can't buy a bottle of Australian champagne anymore, and I think that is a shame. It will only bring confusion to shoppers as to what thet are getting; for example how are we going to differentiate between Cabernet or Merlot? Reisling or Moselle? In labelling wines like this, we are not plagerizing place names, rather identifying a type of grape. We have suburbs of Melbourne called Como, Brighton and Heidelberg. Should we change those to Aboriginal names to please the Europeans? Not likely!

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  • Trekker:

    02 Dec 2008 11:54:51am

    Aboriginals didn't live in suburbs. Do we have to change the term suburbs; did that come from somewhere else? Where will it end?

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  • Pennee:

    02 Dec 2008 12:46:57pm

    I'm surprised we ever called it Australian Champagne, in fact I find it quite amazing that wine growers were ignorant or devious enough to call it that in the first place.

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  • PassTheButter:

    02 Dec 2008 12:47:15pm

    Actually that's precisely the point, we're not identifying a type of grape. You'll find that most of what we would refer to as "Champagne" is made from Pinot Noir and/or Chardonnay fruits. Which also goes to highlight that labelling using only the grape variety is insufficient in many cases - it is the combination of fruit and style that needs a name.
    
    The fact is that we haven't been using the name champagne on any labels or marketing material for years and everyone has survived quite nicely labelling it as "Brut Cuvee" thank you very much. We'll find similar terms for Port, Burgundy etc I'm sure, and the sky will not fall in.

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• psquared:

  02 Dec 2008 11:08:58am

  It's been hard enough to find sherry (that doesn't come in a 'plaggin') as it is. Now I can't even use the name ...
  
  I guess I'll have to move on to something else.

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• Candide:

  02 Dec 2008 11:09:36am

  Do I have to stop eating French toast, Venetian biscuits, and Madeira cake?

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• Tompee:

  02 Dec 2008 11:10:45am

  In late breaking news, Australian beverages will also not allowed to be called "Wine".
  
  EU regulators suggest suitable names for Australian products under the new labelling convention will could be "Australian Drinking Vinegar" or "Unsophisticated Australian Grape Beer"

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  • Warren:

    02 Dec 2008 12:05:59pm

    You are so right . We will not be able call anything wine because that has already been copyrighted as a great EU pastime.

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• John:

  02 Dec 2008 11:19:34am

  I remember a few years ago the French got annoyed that the Greeks were trying to stop them use the name Fetta cheese - Fetta was Fetta they said!

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  • Vino:

    02 Dec 2008 11:44:31am

    reminiscent of the ugg boot debate.

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• Thor:

  02 Dec 2008 11:24:20am

  What a load of bovine excrement!!! I'll still be drinking champagne no matter what the political correctness apologists agree to.
  
  Come to think of it the originators of the name champagne should be flattered that others want to use the name.
  
  And, I note that the top end Australian champagnes are better than those from Europe anyway.
  

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  • Warren:

    02 Dec 2008 12:08:20pm

    Top end Australian champagne???
    I didn't know that did that in Darwin.

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• Elayn:

  02 Dec 2008 11:25:15am

  Aaargh!! As one who fled the nonsensities and beaurocracy of the EU I would have hoped that we Aussies could stand firm for common sense. "Traditional" regional wine names have actually become, in common ENGLISH usage, adjectives and nouns for distinctive styles of wine. Surely clear labelling indicating the country of origin should be more than sufficient to distinguish the overpriced European fizz from our superb and very drinkable product and etc for all the other "traditional" names for wine.
  What's next? Parma ham? Parmesan cheese? Will the EU force us to change and/or re-label chocolate and sausages because they don't conform to the EU definition?

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  • David McAlister:

    02 Dec 2008 11:53:19am

    I think ditching the European names (for cheese, suasages, etc, as well) is good. I think reciprocally, European products exported to Australia should be required to conform to our labelling standards - i.e. which grape varieties of which vintages with what preservatives and other addititives; or hard sheep milk cheese, from Region G, unpasturised, with strain X bacteria added and wax Y used as rind, stored under conditions z for N months/years, good for pizza/salads/toast (none of this misleading Parmesan/Edam/Gouda crap, real labels for real foods).
    
    And if we don't yet have such standards for the pertinent foods, we should agitate for them.

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• Phil:

  02 Dec 2008 11:27:34am

  None of these names that are being phased out are grape varieties, they are derived from places in Europe where the wine style originated. Port - Porto, Portugal etc.
  

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  • snobbe:

    02 Dec 2008 11:54:36am

    Applying the same logic, mate, what are you going to call the thing that goes in the top of the bottle. It can't be a 'cork' because that is a town in Ireland!

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    • Steve:

      02 Dec 2008 12:28:51pm

      It's not called a cork by virtue of its origin, it is called a cork because it is made of tissue from a Cork tree.

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• Mike:

  02 Dec 2008 11:40:49am

  ..and we shall also bow to the pressure of calling our Frankfurters, Footy Snags from now on...please..................

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• frances:

  02 Dec 2008 11:53:22am

  The initial mistake it seems was not naming a province in Australia "Burgundy" 200 years ago. But we do have a town called Gundy. The prefix "ber" is old English for Barley there for Bergundy is beer, made in, or in memory of the hamlet of Gundy of course. Will someone please produce this beverage and export it to France.
  

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  • Kitchen Cynic:

    02 Dec 2008 12:14:47pm

    Perhaps we should just label all EU grape-based alcohol as "Whine"?

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• Pravda:

  02 Dec 2008 12:06:30pm

  I'm more interested in what is in the bottle than what is on the label.
  
  I am glad if we as Australians are moving away from a derivitive culture, and I am sure that the quality of what we produce will quickly overcome the lack of a European name attached to it.
  
  I've already heard of winemakers in Europe making some of the wines in " the Australian style" so it might not be too long before we can use this same agreement to restrict Europeans from free riding on our names and reputation.

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• Wayne:

  02 Dec 2008 12:21:22pm

  More protectionist rubbish from the EU...
  They were always desperate to peddle this fraudulent logic that competitors cannot label bottles sensibly with grape type.
  
  The joke argument is it's because the grape type has the same name as some geographic area in the EU... It is incredibly simple to see where a wine is made on the label, so that argument is worthless.
  
  Now we'll have no clue what we're drinking. What is a chardonnay now?
  The EU were always desperately chasing this, because any comparison very quickly showed how bad their taste & quality is. Their overpriced bad wine is losing market share faster than you can say "unfair trade practices".
  
  

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• Greg:

  02 Dec 2008 12:24:25pm

  An interesting point should be made. Quite a few years ago France went through a plaque that devastated it's vineyards.
  In order to replant, they imported the root stock from California vineyards. So the question should be. Are they really growing french wine, or is it California wine ?

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• picnic:

  02 Dec 2008 12:34:14pm

  Does anyone know who will have a license to use the word "champagne" on their brew? Does it have to be made in that area, or can it be made anywhere in EU? What about the French manufacturers who don't actually live in Champagne - what words do they use?

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  • Pennee:

    02 Dec 2008 12:49:51pm

    I can't believe someone has to ask this question. It has always been that Champagne is from the Champagne region and it's called a sparkling white (usually by it's grape variety rather than just white) if it comes from anywhere else.

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• Perry:

  02 Dec 2008 12:40:30pm

  I shall toast the decision with a glass of the wine formerly known as champagne.
  
  la votre!

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• AJ:

  02 Dec 2008 12:42:40pm

  I can't believe our wine makers don't know that only wine from the Champagne region in France can be called Champagne. It's a really poor reflection on us that they have ot make the labelling laws more restrictive because there are still people here (and sadly in the wine industry) who don't know that you call it "sparkling white wine."

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• Green:

  02 Dec 2008 12:56:00pm

  A rose by any other name would still smell as sweet....

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