Producers all across the country may have to rebrand and rename their products as result of a massive $100 billion trade deal with the European Union.
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EU negotiators in a Free Trade Agreement with Australia have been pushing to only permit the use of certain household names such as prosecco or feta to regions in Europe, in the same way sparkling wine can only be called champagne if it is produced in a certain region of France.
It could force Australian producers to use “prosecco-like” or “feta-like” to describe up to 1500 products, but the government is hoping to compromise and have local items labelled “Australian prosecco” instead.
If we cast off a lot of those names we might have a bit more freedom and realise we don’t have to make cheeses the same way we have before.
- Second Mouse Cheese Company's SJ Pienarr
See Saw Wines co-owner Justin Jarrett said it would be a “struggle” to make the switch across if the name prosecco was wiped off the Australian landscape.
He objected to the Italians claiming prosecco as a region as the part of Italy, with the name was only confirmed in 2009, as opposed to Champagne which has a long history as a sparkling wine-making region.
International wine groups came together to ban the name champagne describing wine produced outside the French region over 25 years ago, but those same bodies have objected to this name change.
Mr Jarrett said it could cost “hundreds of millions of dollars” to re-educate the public that the drink they knew as prosecco was exactly the same drink, and could hit small businesses hard.
He was also annoyed considering the name of the grape is prosecco, making the push to ban it a murky one.
While he said he’d be fine with renaming it “Australian prosecco” – in fact, he said it might help the Australian market support locally-made wine – he didn’t rule out having two different names and labels for the same drink going to two different markets, assuming the EU didn’t ban the name outright.
As the deal is with the European Union, and the largest market for prosecco is the United Kingdom, a potential no-deal Brexit could make Jarrett’s dual-label solution a practical one should the name still be permitted.
Second Mouse Cheese Company owner and head cheesemaker SJ Pienaar said while a potential name change might be difficult for consumers and producers alike, the move could inspire more creativity in making cheeses.
“If we cast off a lot of those names we might have a bit more freedom and realise we don’t have to make cheeses the same way we have before,” she said.
She said some cheeses did have geographic regions they were tied to, but some – like feta – were harder to pin down.
However, she hoped it would give people license to make their own cheeses, European-inspired or not, such as Second Mouse’s wash-rind ‘Frieda’ or Tasmanian Heritage’s ‘White Pearl’.
The agreement is expected to be finalised in 2021.
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