98 WINE LAW 6. CONCLUSION The issue of homonymous names for wine and grape varieties is a complex one in practice. On the one hand, geographical indications easily obtain a more common, generic meaning in their everyday use, but, on the other, names of varietal wines can also acquire a geographic connotation if the wine is typically produced in a specific region. The distinction between different wine grape varieties is often not clear, since several synonyms may be used for the same variety, and these also give names to varietal wines. All this can easily lead to the emergence of homonymous names for different wines that may be in conflict, particularly with indirect geographical indications, not containing an express reference to a geographical name. To prevent confusion and, at the same time, respect the traditional naming of wines and grape varieties, the legal regulation cannot be clear-cut, needing to permit a certain level of flexibility for solving individual cases by considering all the legitimate interests. The protection of geographical indications in Europe is generally strong – the EU is one of the leading proponents of this type of protection of products –, with the legislation favouring geographical indications over varietal terms if there is a conflict between them due to homonyms. However, exceptions are needed in this situation as well, and the earlier geographical indication does not enjoy an absolutely protected position, especially when it comes to the labelling of wine also protected by a geographical indication. The case of “Teran” did not concern a conflict between two PDOs, rather a homonymy between a PGI and a grape variety name in practice also used as the name of a varietal wine not covered by the PGI. Since both uses have been established in practice, the Commission sought a compromise solution. Ideally, the countries concerned should devise such compromises among themselves, in consultation with their winemakers in order best consider their interests, but negotiating an acceptable compromise is difficult, especially where disputes over locally cherished wines become politicised, so the politicians prefer to leave the task to the Commission. In any case, it would be preferable to avoid such disputes by considering the possible conflicts already in the process of protecting a geographical indication. In Teran’s case, it is questionable whether it really made sense for Slovenia to omit from its designation the direct geographical element “Karst”, which it originally contained and very much limited the potential for homonymous names. Conversely, one might ask whether it was really essential for Croatian wine producers to use the name “Teran” in wine labelling if an equivalent synonym “Istrijanac” for the same grape variety existed as well.
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