Italy and Croatia fighting over who can use terminology "prosecco wine"

[NewYorkExpress]

https://www.npr.org/2021/11/03/1051967995/prosecco-italy-croatia-name-prosek-fight

On tiny pockets of terraced terrain overlooking a bay shared by Italy, Slovenia and Croatia, Milos Skabar is reviving a centuries-old winemaking tradition known as Prosekar, which shares roots with its better-known bubbly cousin, Prosecco.

But this humble fizzy blend, virtually unknown beyond the Italian port city of Trieste where it's made on a strip of land between the Adriatic Sea and Slovenia, is caught up in a dispute that's about to pop: The makers of Italy's hugely popular sparkling wine Prosecco are fighting to prevent Croatian winemakers from using the name Prosek for their sweet dessert wine.

The handful of Prosekar makers hope to use their ties to Prosecco's birthplace, just above Trieste, to gain greater recognition for their wine but worry their name is at risk, too.
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"Prosekar wine is the original, because it was born 300 years before Prosecco," said Skabar, surveying his vineyard with a port view, the hills of Slovenia a dark green line in the distance. "So, it is the father of Prosekar, Prosecco, Prosek and all the rest."

At stake in the battle is not only the sanctity of Prosecco, the world's top-selling wine, but also the European Union's system of geographical designations created to guarantee the distinctiveness and quality of artisanal food, wine and spirits, defenders say. That market is worth nearly 75 billion euros ($87 billion) annually — half of it in wines, according to a 2020 study by the European Commission, the EU's executive branch.

The Italian government has pledged to defend Prosecco's name, and other makers of protected products with distinct geographic roots, from Italy's Parmigiano Reggiano cheese to France's Champagne, are mobilizing as the European Commission prepares to deliberate on Croatia's petition to label its niche wine with the traditional Prosek name.

"The problem for us is not that these producers, who make a very small number of bottles, enter our market. But it is the confusion it could generate among consumers,'' said Luca Giavi, general director of the Prosecco DOC consortium, which promotes Prosecco and assures the quality of wines under the EU's "denomination of controlled origin" designation.

Prosecco has annual sales of 2.4 billion euros ($2.8 billion), most of it exported. "Everyone perceives the situation as a threat to our success," producer Stefano Zanette said, with worldwide buyers possibly not able to distinguish between the similar names.

Croatia argues that the Prosek name and tradition is centuries old, predating Prosecco's protections in the EU system, and that its place as a dessert wine makes it distinct from Prosecco.

"Consumers will not be confused by this," Ladislav Ilcic, a Croatian member of the European Parliament, said in a recent debate. "Prosek should legitimately receive the protected denomination of origin, and producers should have full access to markets."

[It’s so Joever]

Why should Prosecco makers get to literally erase a wine which has existed for years for their own economic interests? It would be one thing if these were copycats trying to duplicate actual Prosecco, but Prosek is an entirely different wine with a different history. Just because some people might confuse the two doesn’t mean you can ignore that reality.

[parochial boy]

Does this mean we can also ban the French from calling their fake crap "raclette"?

[CumbrianLefty]

Why should Prosecco makers get to literally erase a wine which has existed for years for their own economic interests? It would be one thing if these were copycats trying to duplicate actual Prosecco, but Prosek is an entirely different wine with a different history. Just because some people might confuse the two doesn’t mean you can ignore that reality.

This seems pretty indisputable, based on the above account.

[Crumpets]

Whoever loses should call theirs "antisecco."

[PSOL]

Easy fix, call one prosekar and have them have the option of labeling it Croatian Prosecco. The Italian version can be just called Prosecco.

[Lord Halifax]

Whoever loses should call theirs "antisecco."

how about contrasecco?
https://gramhir.com/media/2339985615059097700

[ingemann]

I find it unlikely for the Italians to win this if it’s true that the wine was made in Croatia in the past and under the name “prosek”. I also doubt this is as major issue for the Italians as the article pretend, I really doubt that “Prosek, Croatian Prosecco” is a brand threat to “Prosecco”. The Italians are likely just fighting to keep other with a less good claims from trying the same thing. Also even if the Croatians lose, they’re still able to keep producing the wine just under another name.

[Zinneke]

Italians will end saying they invented boiling water.

[Battista Minola 1616]

From what I can gather, Prošek is a Dalmatian sweet dessert wine, very different from Prosecco (and possibly with an unrelated name origin? this not clear to me), which was barred from being marketed under that name from Croatia's entrance in the EU in 2013 until now because of protected denomination rules. I think my country is in the wrong here. I mean, if one really wants to be sure, just have them specify "Croatian Prošek" and be done with it. Of course it should not be sold as "Croatian Prosecco" however - that would be an actual flagrant abuse.

On the other hand, Prosekar appears to be an extremely niche wine produced only by a few ethnically Slovene people around the very village of Prosecco (Prosek* in Slovenian) near Trieste, which is much more closely to the more famous Italian wine, and is able to de facto circumvent EU rules because its production and distribution is extremely limited, and hopes to gain recognition from the whole controversy. I don't really know what to say about them.

I have no idea who will win but I saw a few articles pointing out that a couple decades ago our wine Tocai or Tocai Friulano was forced to drop its name for just Friulano because it sounded too similar to the more famous Hungarian Tokaji. Ironically, both of these cases involve the region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia.

*Please note that the s as opposed to the š of the Dalmatian wine.