 Mariann Fischer Boel, European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, said: 'Member States and producers have a great opportunity to make the best use of the new wine regime to build on Europe's international reputation for excellence. I truly believe this marks a turning point in our wine sector history.'
The new policy and wine regulations bring in a new era of the European wine industry. The rules are based on widely discussed and debated plans within each of the member constituent and then the agriculture ministries of various countries in December 2007 before being passed as the common EU law after taking into consideration their objections and comments.
These changes are being made in order to help the European wine industry become more competitive with respect to the challenge from the New World which according to OIV has increased its global share from barely 3% in 1990 to a staggering 30% last year, according to Decanter.
Actually, this is the second phase of reforms which relates to protected designations of origin (PDO) and protected geographical indications (PGI); traditional terms, labeling and presentation of wine; Wine-making practices and The Vineyard Register- compulsory declarations and the collating of data to monitor the wine market, the documents accompanying consignments of wine products etc. The first phase has already been implemented in August 2008.
Simplifying labels as above is part of the strategy adopted in the new regulations. The French AOC (Appellation d'origine contrôlée) becomes AOP (Appellation d'Origin Protegée) and the equivalent of Vin de Pays wines will now be known as IGP (Indication Geographique Protegée).
A voluntary, three-year scheme to grub up the vines to encourage uncompetitive producers to leave the industry will come into effect. Subsidies that are a common feature of the EU policy to enable distillation of excess and non-saleable stocks will also be phased out as an added measure to reduce overproduction. The savings will be allocated to wine promotion and marketing activities and to help modernize the vineyards as well as cellars.
The restrictive planting rights system will also be abolished at EU level from 1 January 2016 onwards. |