No designation of origin for ‘varietal wines’

14.11.2018

Question for written answer E-005775-18
to the Commission
Rule 130
Mario Borghezio (ENF)

The recent rules approved at European level on so-called ‘varietal wines’ or ‘table wines’, i.e. wines that do not have a designation of origin or geographical indication, no longer require a declaration of the origin of the grapes or the must.

This rule is certain to facilitate the import of low quality grapes (including from non-European countries such as China or Tunisia) and the marketing of the wine made from these grapes under the name of the winery that bottles it. This mechanism risks downgrading the quality of table wines, causing product prices to fall and thus seriously jeopardising a sector, including from an employment perspective, which accounts for EUR 15 billion in turnover in Italy alone, and which is already being penalised by rules that have unexpectedly permitted wine must to be sweetened, as well as by the planned cuts to the CAP.

In the light of the above, what action does the Commission intend to take to remedy this situation by defending employment in the wine sector and the quality of European table wines?