Moribus deficiunt: Italian Rosè from Spain

It is possible that the true wine lover would wish a headache for days on any consumer who actually buys a wine under the name "Italian Rosè". Nevertheless, the trust of the uninformed consumer in a good Italian origin of the product must also be protected.

The Higher Regional Court of Frankfurt takes a different view and allows a Spanish wine producer who harvested the grapes in Italy and processed them there into a "base wine", but who carried out the last decisive processing stage in Spain (second fermentation with the addition of liqueur, sugar and yeast) to market his wine as "Italian Rosè" and "Product of Italy" market.

The OLG is of the opinion that the second fermentation, which took place in Spain, does not change anything about the grape harvest and processing into wine, which took place in Italy, within the meaning of Art. 45(1) of Regulation (EU) 2019/33).

The editors of this newsletter, who have an affinity for wine, warn against undermining the Italian terms of origin. It is not for nothing that the adulterated wine is marketed as "Italian Rosè" and not - which would be legally unproblematic - as "Spanish Rosè". The traction of an Italian origin is still strong enough to meet a positive expectation of the consumer. If the consumer once the consumer realizes that one tastes like the other, the phenomenon of "Italian sounding" will take care of itself.