Wine Law

HOMONYMOUS NAMES OF WINES AND GRAPE VARIETIES 93 listed in Annex IV to the Regulation, with Part A containing a list of wine grape variety names and their synonyms that consist of or fully contain a PDO or PGI, and Part B containing a list of wine grape variety names and their synonyms that only partially contain a PDO or PGI and directly refer to its geographical element. In both cases, homonymous wine grape variety names may only appear on a product’s label of bearing a PDO or PGI (of an EU Member State or a third country). For grapevine products without a PDO or PGI, the Member States may decide to use the terms “varietal wine”, supplemented by the name of the Member State concerned and/or the name of the wine grape variety. However, such indication of the grape variety name is not permitted where the name is homonymous with a PDO or PGI. In summary, EU law, in principle, prohibits the use of homonymous grape variety names in the labelling of wine, and exceptions to this rule apply only for specific grape variety names that have traditionally been used in the labelling of certain varietal wines and are listed as such in the Annex to the Delegated Regulation. Still, exceptions apply only where the wine in question is itself entitled to a Protected Designation of Origin or a Protected Geographical Indication; any lower quality varietal wines cannot contain homonymous grape variety names in their labelling. The list of exceptions may be modified by the Commission only to account for established labelling practices of new Member States, following their accession to the EU [Article 50(3) of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/33]. Such modification of the list of exceptions following Croatia’s entry in the EU triggered Slovenia’s action of against the Commission in the dispute over Teran wine, which will be address below. 5. DISPUTE OVER TERAN 5.1. Background When Slovenia joined the European Union in 2004, amongst the wine names protected by the national legislation was the designation “Kras, Teran”, which referred to a red wine traditionally produced from the Refošk grape variety, solely grown on the rocky Karst plateau (in Slovene: “Kras”; in Italian: “Carso”). Slovenia notified its list of quality wines to the European Commission, which included it in an updated list of quality wines produced in specified regions,

RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTE4NzM5Nw==