New research from Monash University and Macquaire University, which has been five years in the making, confirms Prosecco is a grape variety name.
The report, entitled The European Union’s attempts to limit the use of the term ‘Prosecco’, is the culmination of five years of research conducted by Professor of Law Mark Davison and the team at the Faculty of Law at Monash University and the Macquarie Law School, Macquarie University.
Professor Davison said: “The evidence speaks for itself, Prosecco has been recognised as the name of a grape for centuries, but not as a geographical indication (GI) Protecting the term as a geographical indication is a cynical attempt to avoid competition from Australian wine producers.”
The report demonstrates the extensive historical proof of Prosecco being a grape variety and its broad international acceptance as such, including evidence from the Italian wine industry and the European Union (EU). It also highlights the lack of evidence that has been made available to justify the Italian Government and the EU changing the name of the Prosecco grape variety to ‘Glera‘ in the EU in 2009.
The report is good news for Australia’s Prosecco producers, who are fighting EU attempts to make Prosecco a GI product, which would ban non-Italian producers of the wine from using the Prosecco name.
Lee McLean, Chief Executive Officer of Australian Grape & Wine, said: “With the Australian Government undertaking a public objections process on EU GIs, including Prosecco, this report confirms the importance of making sure the Government receives as many submissions into this process as possible.
“The risks of banning the ability of our industry to use well-established grape variety names are significant and have to potential to cause widespread damage to our sector and the regional communities it underpins.”
Now all Australians can join the fight to #SaveAussieProsecco, as the Australian Government has opened a public objections process to give interested stakeholders the opportunity to have their say on the proposed new and updated EU GIs. You can lodge an objection via the following link (before 12pm on April 21, 2023) : https://haveyoursay.agriculture.gov.au/public-objections-process.