It’s finally official. Australian winemakers can no longer call their wines Champagne, Hermitage, Port and a number of other names with links to European wine regions. However, thanks to some finely honed Australian negotiating skills, a number of the so-called ‘traditional expressions’ over whose usage many Europeans have very vocally objected, are still able to be used on Australian wine labels. For example, the terms ‘ruby’, ‘cream’, ‘tawny’ and ‘vintage’, are still able to be used to in association with Australian fortified wines sold in Europe. Furthermore, in the light of a number of rejections by the EU of some Australian wines based on what was considered an excessive level of salinity, wines whose mineral content (diplomatic babble for salinity) ‘reflects the naturally occurring levels found in Australian agricultural soils’ will now be able to be sold in Europe. Given the increasing salinity of wines I have witnessed from regions like Langhorne Creek and McLaren Vale, this is a very, very important development since it affords winemakers in Australia’s ever-drying (and increasingly saline) continent with a major source of protection. Given that there is a substantial trade imbalance in wine sales between Australia and Europe (in 2006 we exported wine to the value of AUD 1.7 billion to Europe, with imports to the value of AUD 121 million), the Australian negotiators have much to be proud of.
