Terroir 2020 banner
IVES 9 IVES Conference Series 9 International Terroir Conferences 9 Terroir 2020 9 History and innovation of terroir 9 Politics meets terroir. The story of Prosecco – Are GI’s just a protectionist racket?

Politics meets terroir. The story of Prosecco – Are GI’s just a protectionist racket?

Abstract

The recent Free Trade Agreement negotiations between Australia and the European Union have again put the issue of Geographical Indications (GIs) in the spotlight. Australia has long demonstrated its understanding of GIs and maintains a clear and rigorous GI protection system for wine. For many years, Australia’s wine sector was a strong advocate for GIs and a strong system to protect the rights of users. However, in recent times, trust has been eroded by the move by the European Union to legislate away the use of the grape variety ‘Prosecco’ and create an artificial region called ‘Prosecco’. This effectively downgraded the value of the GI Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco by removing the legitimate terroir link between the region and the product. In Australia and other countries, this was perceived as a cynical attempt to remove the rights of other producers to use the traditional variety Prosecco and has been strongly resisted. In this paper, we use the case study of ‘Prosecco’ to explore the importance of GIs and how the national political agendas can impact on the validity of the concept. Recent developments in international law and practical experience in recent Free Trade Agreement negotiations allow the authors to develop a hypothesis that GIs are being used as a bargaining chip in trade negotiations. Their very credibility is being eroded as protectionist ideology is driving short-sighted political decision making to devalue the whole concept of GIs by de-linking terroir from the GI. This limits the acceptability of the GI concept and potentially will lead to a consumer backlash as the integrity of the system is questioned. This study also investigates the international legal developments and the implications for these on GI protection.

DOI:

Publication date: March 23, 2021

Issue: Terroir 2020

Type: Video

Authors

Anthony Battaglene1*, Damien Griffante2, Lee McLean1

1Australian Grape and Wine Incorporated, Canberra, ACT, Australia
2Australian Grape and Wine Incorporated, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

Contact the author

Keywords

Geographic Indications, grape varieties, regionality, Prosecco, wine trade

Tags

IVES Conference Series | Terroir 2020

Citation

Related articles…

New breeding frontiers: application of the CRISPR-cas9 system in grapevine (V. vinifera L.) and improvements in plant regeneration

Nowadays, many policies are being adopted for direct agriculture towards more sustainable approaches. To continue to maintain a high production using fewer fertilizers, pesticides and water resources, agronomic techniques must be combined with biotechnological approaches. In grapevine, the breeding programs are restricted by the fact that it has a highly heterozygous genome, therefore, if on the one hand, we try to improve the characteristics, on the other hand it is necessary to preserve the original genome of the varieties. CRISPR-cas9 system is one of the smartest tools to carry out highly precise genetic modifications leaving the genetic background unchanged.

The modification of cultural practices in grapevine cv. Syrah, does it modify the characteristics of the musts?

The work shows the results of a year of experimentation (2020) in a Syrah variety vineyard in La Roda (Castilla-La Mancha, Spain). The trial approach was on a randomized block design with two factors: Irrigation (I) and Pruning (P).
Irrigation schedules were adjusted to apply amounts close to 1,500 m3/ha. With this provision, 2 different irrigation treatments were proposed: I1) Start of irrigation from pea-sized grape to post-harvest (providing at least 20 % of the total amount of irrigation water to be provided post-harvest); I2) Start of irrigation from pea-sized grape to harvest (usual irrigation practice in the study area). Pruning was proposed with two treatments, one at the end of January (P1), which is pruning on a conventional date; and P2) pruning carried out at the beginning of budding. In total, 4 repetitions were designed with 4 elementary plots, each one of them representing one of the proposed treatments (I1P1; I1P2; I2P1; I2P2). In total, 16 plots were worked on and each elementary plot consisted of 30 strains, distributed in 3 lines.
The productive response was evaluated with the yield results of the harvest harvested at 23 ºBrix. The qualitative response was measured in the musts through the indices of technological (acidity, pH and potassium) and phenolic maturity and aromatic compounds in free and glycosylated fractions. The treatments tested had, in general, an effect on the different variables analyzed.

Terroir et marché des A.O.C

Cette communication sera basée sur les résultats d’une étude auprès des consommateurs réalisée par la société G3 pour l’I.N.A.O. sur les attitudes des consommateurs vis à vis des produits de terroir et des A.O.C. et sur un mémoire de DEA soutenu par Monsieur J-C. DURIEUX à l’Université de Paris X Nanterre, consacré aux variables explicatives du comportement d’achat des vins A.O.C.

Climate regionalization of Uruguayan viticulture for ecological sustainability

Ecological sustainability refers to developing viticulture in adequate environmental conditions.

Interpreting wine aroma: from aroma volatiles to the aromatic perception

Wine contains so many odorants that all its olfaction-related perceptions are, inevitably, the result of the interaction between many odorants.