16.2.17 Europe Prepares Strategy for Protection of Origin in US

The arrival of Donald Trump to the presidency of the United States has put the main sectors of the world economy on alert, among them the wine sector, whose alliance of leading denominations of origin led by Sherry, Champagne and Port see the progress achieved in reinforcing protection of origin in the USA being endangered. Signatories of the Declaration to Protect Wine Place Names and Origin, signed in the Napa Valley in 2005 (see it here: http://origins.wine/declaration/) are worried about the cooling of the free trade agreement known as TTIP between Europe and the USA since the arrival of Donald Trump. There will be a further alliance meeting at Vinexpo in Bordeaux in June.

The “post Trump strategy” took up a great deal of the debate at the recent meeting of the great wines of the world, held in Chianti in celebration of the tercentenary of Chianti Classico, and the alliance now has the support of twenty denominations of origin and geographic indications from all over the world. There will be a further alliance meeting at Vinexpo in Bordeaux in June.According to César Saldaña, director of the Consejo Regulador of Jerez the alliance is preparing a common strategy in an attempt to stop the global impact of the protectionist policies of the new president. He said that Trump’s arrival has confused the situation. One plan is to form a lobby group to ensure that the free trade agreement isn’t allowed to lose its teeth and that more attention is paid to European wines in the USA, where there has been no progress since the signing of the Wine Accord back in 2005.

The meeting in Chianti (foto:diariodejerez)

On that occasion the EU and the USA agreed to photograph the fake wines on sale at the time in the American market. The Accord fell short however; while no new brands were permitted, established ones could continue. In the USA it is considered that the names Sherry, Champagne and Port do not refer to their origin but to their production methods. It is expected that at the forthcoming meeting in Bordeaux new members of the alliance will be announced. Current members include Sherry, Port, Champagne, Burgundy and Chablis, Bordeaux, Rioja, Madeira, Chianti, Tokaj, Western Australia, Victoria and even a few from the USA: Long Island, Oregon, Paso Robles, Napa Valley, Santa Barbara, Sonoma, Walla Walla, Washington State and Willamette Valley.

Meanwhile the EU has just voted to ratify a trade deal with Canada, the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). Negotiations began in 2009 amid much controversy and once each EU member parliament has agreed to it, it should take effect in a matter of months.

13.11.16 Consejo Worries about Trump Victory

While there is naturally worry and uncertainty after Donald Trump’s election victory, the Consejo sees no particular reason for it to affect sales of Sherry in the US, which have been growing steadily. The US is a wine market with great potential being the largest in the world, but what does worry the Consejo is Trump’s protectionist attitude to foreign trade and in particular to the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations, which have involved a great deal of work and which may be cancelled.

Included in these negotiations is the protection of many European denominations of origin such as Sherry, which have been falsely used in the US for domestic products for over a century. There was no absolute guarantee that such protection would have come about through TTIP, but it is felt that a window of opportunity might well now close.

23.9.16 TTIP Protection for Sherry Might Not Happen

There are many in Europe, especially in France and Germany who believe the TTIP treaty is dead. It had been hoped that the controversial and increasingly unpopular Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, a trade deal between the European Union and the United States, would be concluded in 2014, but it is still ongoing and looks unlikely to be concluded till 2019, and even then maybe not to everyone’s satisfaction. One of the key elements for the wine trade is the protection of Denominaciónes de Origen, and if the deal fails, that protection will not be implemented. This is a worry for the Consejo, since there are many fake “sherries” available in the US, where Sherry, Port and Champagne for example, are considered styles of wine rather than individual wines from a specific place, and can thus be freely imitated in the US. Although the TTIP negotiations seem to be running out of steam they are not over, so the Consejo is doing its utmost to ensure the interests of Sherry are properly represented by keeping close contact with members of the Spanish negotiating delegation, the Ministry of Agriculture and the embassy in Washington.

13.5.16 Consejo Hopes TTIP Will Not Harm Sherry

The Consejo Regulador is hoping that the Treaty of Free Trade and Investment (TTIP) currently being negotiated between the European Union and the United States will not prejudice the interests of Sherry since it will not alter the status quo. Greenpeace, which is opposed to the treaty, managed to get hold of some documents which appeared to show intransigence on the part of the US on the matter of banning the use of protected European wine names for imitations produced in the US, such as Champagne, Tokaji and Sherry. European law forbids the importation of wines with such labels, and negotiators are trying to get the Americans to ban their use in the US as well, and as they point out, talks are still in progress and Greepeace only came across some documents. If the deal ultimately goes ahead without American concessions, things will not be worse, just not better.