Italy on Wednesday stepped up its
fight to stop the European Union recognising Croatian Prosek
wine after the application for the alleged inferior clone to
Italy's famed prosecco was published in the EU's Official
Gazette.
Farm Minister Stefano Patuanelli told the Senate that a task
force had already been set up to combat the registration of
Prosek was a recognised denomination.
"It seems indubitable to me that the term Prosek would evoke in
the average European consumer Italian Prosecco due to its
phonetic resemblance," he said.
Patunaelli said he did not think "the conditions exist" for the
EU to put Prosek on a par with prosecco.
Italy has two months from Wednesday's publication of the
application to file its objections to the Croatian wine becoming
one of the EU's protected products.
Patuanelli stressed that "no definitive decision has yet been
taken on the registration".
But farm group Coldiretti said that "the EU's green light to the
publication of the application for Croatian Prosek ruins the
historic record for world prosecco exports, which rose 35% in
the first six months of 2021."
The group said the publication also "blatantly contradicts the
recent sentence of the European Court of Justice that declared
illegitimate all the fraudulent Italian sounding names which
deceptively evoke products recognised and protected by the
European Union like the star of Italian bubbly which this year
should reach a record of 700 million bottles produced, the
biggest wine brand in the world".
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