French feel pressure over wine law

Date: 07/03/1996

By Fiona McHugh

DECIDING which red and white drinks may bear the name 'wine' and which may not has always been a serious business in France.

But it is likely to become more so in the coming months, as Paris faces probable court action over rules which the European Commission says discriminate against foreign wines.

Under French law, sweet wines made in EU countries other than France must meet higher standards than those made within the Republic if they want to be called 'wine'.

German and Italian products, for example, must be certified by the French authorities before they can be classified as wine, whereas French ones do not need such authorisation.

This twin-track approach to drink classification would not matter so much, perhaps, were it not for the fact that non-wines are taxed more heavily than wines.

“I am afraid this is a case of all wines being equal, but some more equal than others,” explained one diplomat.

Irked by what it believes to be a blatant case of discrimination against foreign products, the Commission is due to demand explanations in a formal letter of complaint to the French government in the coming weeks.

But French diplomats have defended their government's position, saying local wines must satisfy tough requirements to win the quality symbol appelation d'origine controlée, and so should not have to undergo the same tests as wines from abroad.

That argument is unlikely to impress the Commission, and France will probably find itself on the defensive in the European Court of Justice before the end of the year.

When Italy and France, the bloc's biggest wine-producers, agreed to harmonise excise duty structures in 1992, they did so on the condition that they could maintain zero rates on 'still' or non-fizzy wines sold within their territories.

Still wines, member states agreed, would be classified as drinks which contained no more than 15&percent; alcohol. Naturally sweet or liqueur-like wines, however, would be allowed to contain up to 18&percent; alcohol and still be called wine, provided they were made without added sugar or alcohol. While testing drinks to establish their alcohol content level is perfectly legal in the Union, applying different rules to different wines, depending on their nationality, is not.

Meanwhile, MEPs are due to decide later this month on new rules for aromatic wines. Agriculture committee members, following the advice of their French Europe of Nations rapporteur Philippe Martin, voted some weeks ago to draw up an EU-wide wine-making rule book aimed at preventing member states without wine-making traditions from using unorthodox production methods.

The move, if backed by the full assembly later this month, will no doubt win support in France. But in those countries struggling to establish themselves as makers of fine wines, it is likely to go down as well as a bottle of the UK's finest in Bordeaux.

Another amendment banning the use of water in gluhwein is also likely to cause problems in non-purist circles.

According to the international wine office, Europeans both produce and drink most of the world's wine.

But the EU's share of the global market has fallen in recent times as wines from the US, South America and Australia have become more popular, making competition between the bloc's wine producers fierce.