Use of wood chippings to age wine

7.6.2006

ORAL QUESTION WITH DEBATE O-0060/06
pursuant to Rule 108 of the Rules of Procedure
by Vincenzo Lavarra, Roberta Angelilli, Katerina Batzeli, Jean Beaupuy, Giovanni Berlinguer, Giusto Catania, Thierry Cornillet, Giuseppe Castiglione, Donata Gottardi, Umberto Guidoni, Giovanni Fava, Janelly Fourtou, Lilli Gruber, Claire Gibault, Nathalie Griesbeck, Anne Laperrouze, Pia Locatelli, Andrea Losco, Mario Mauro, Sebastiano Musumeci, Francesco Musotto, Philippe Morillon, Pasqualina Napoletano, Pier Panzeri, Giovanni Pittella, Umberto Pirilli, Lapo Pistelli, Vittorio Prodi, Guido Sacconi, Matteo Salvini, Francesco Speroni, Luciana Sbarbati, Gianluca Susta, Marc Tarabella, Riccardo Ventre, Donato Veraldi, Marcello Vernola, Armando Veneto, Marta Vincenzi, Sepp Kusstatscher, Mauro Zani and Nicola Zingaretti
to the Commission

With reference to:

 

–  the fact that consumer protection, clear labelling of foodstuffs and promoting the quality of agricultural products are considered priority policies by the EU;

 

–  the broad agreement apparently reached between the majority of national delegations within the Wine Management Committee to include the use of wood chippings among the permitted wine ageing methods;

 

–  the fact that the proposal to amend Regulations (CE) No.1622/2000[1], (CE) No. 884/2001[2] and (CE) No. 753/2002[3] is currently under consideration by the relevant World Trade Organisation bodies;

 

–  the steadily increasing demand from European consumers for quality wines, stemming not least from the use of traditional, safe, geographically based production methods;

 

–  the fact that the competitiveness of the European wine industry is based mainly on products of certified quality, which are becoming increasingly popular among consumers on the international market;

 

would the Commission answer the following questions:

 

1. In the light of Community policy on quality and clear labelling, what is the Commission's position on the Wine Committee's proposal?

 

2. Would it not agree that the proposed ageing method would undermine the transparency principle by artificially imitating the features of wines that are normally produced using the traditional method of ageing in barrels?

 

3. Would it not agree that the (albeit unadvisable) authorisation of this practice should be ruled out for DOC, DOCG and IGT wines and, for other wines, should carry with it the obligation to state on the label that the wine chippings method has been used?

 

4. Would it not agree that authorisation of the practice could result in European producers abandoning traditional ageing methods because they are more costly than the new one?

 

5. Has it assessed all the proposal's impacts, particularly on the competitiveness of the European market for quality wines?

 

 

Tabled: 07.06.2006

Forwarded: 09.06.2006

Deadline for reply: 16.06.2006

• [1]  OJ L 194, 31.7.2000, p. 1.
• [2]  OJ L 128, 10.5.2001, p. 32.
• [3]  OJ L 118, 4.5.2002, p. 1.