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AAP
AAP
Politics
Tess Ikonomou and Liv Casben

Australia's wine industry fizzing over prosecco

Australian winemakers are urged to oppose an EU claim for naming rights for wines. (Joel Carrett/AAP PHOTOS) (AAP)

Australian winemakers are being urged to have their say on the European Union's proposal to claim the naming rights for key products including prosecco.

A final round of major negotiations with the bloc will take place in Brussels next month, as delegations work to seal a free trade deal by a mid-year deadline.

One of the biggest sticking points during the negotiations is Australia's unwillingness to give ground over geographical indicators (GIs) on locally made produce such as prosecco and feta.

The government is running a public objections consultation process on wine GIs put forward by the EU.

The bloc is seeking protection for 50 new wine GIs under the wine agreement, which would stop producers elsewhere in the world using those names.

Head of Australian Grape & Wine, Lee McLean, said prosecco growers first went into battle in 2013 to protect the Australian industry which is now worth $200 million.

"We will certainly be voicing our grievances about the EU's push to protect prosecco as a GI," he told AAP.

"Prosecco is a grape variety, just like shiraz is, just like chardonnay is. We need to make sure that Australian producers maintain that right to use the grape variety name on their labels."

Mr McLean said if the EU is successful in getting prosecco banned from being produced anywhere else but Italy, it would set a precedent for other grape varieties.

"Not only would we not be able to use prosecco as a grape variety here in Australia, but we couldn't export prosecco anywhere else around the world," he said.

"If we allow this precedent to be set about a grape variety name being banned in Australia ... we would be potentially setting ourselves up to have a number of other grape variety names treated the same way."

Australia has previously agreed to protect over 2000 EU wine GIs, such as Champagne and Burgundy, while over 100 Australian wine GIs like Barossa Valley and Margaret River have been agreed to by the EU.

Trade Minister Don Farrell said the government would not sign a deal for the sake of it.

"Negotiations will only be concluded when we have a deal that's in Australia's national interest," he said.

Negotiators have engaged in more than a dozen rounds of talks.

The European market has a gross domestic product of about $23 trillion, and Australia is seeking to improve access for agricultural products.

Submissions objecting to wine GIs can be lodged until April 21.

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