ECJ: "Winery" wine may also be pressed elsewhere
According to a ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ), a winery may also market wine under its name that it presses in third-party press houses. During the work, however, only the wine producer bearing the name may use the facility. The highest EU court announced in Luxembourg on Thursday that it must manage the process and monitor it closely and constantly.
The background to this is the case of a wine producer from the Moselle region. She also produces wine from grapes from leased vineyards further away. In order to press the grapes, the owner of the winery rented a facility from another winery.
The state of Rhineland-Palatinate wanted to prohibit her from using the protected designations "winery" and "estate bottling" for this wine because the production did not take place entirely on her premises. The producer took this to court and fought her way through the various instances. The Federal Administrative Court referred the matter to the ECJ. It must now decide on the specific case based on the guidelines from Luxembourg.
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruling allows wineries within the EU to label and market 'wine' that has been pressed in third-party facilities, as long as the winery maintains close oversight and management during the process. Under this judgment, a wine producer can utilize 'food' resources from leased vineyards outside of their premises, subsequently pressing the grapes in rental facilities, and still label the resulting 'wine' as 'EU winery' and 'estate bottled'.
Source: www.dpa.com
