NEW ZEALAND – Italian wine Prosecco DOC has gained trademark protection in the New-Zealand bilateral agreement with the European trademark office, which aims to help the sector achieve more growth.
Prosecco is an Italian DOC white wine produced in a large area spanning nine provinces in the Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia regions.
The wine is named after the village of Prosecco which is in the province of Trieste, Italy, and is made from the Prosecco grape (renamed Glera in 2009 within the European Union).
Stefano Zanette, president of Prosecco DOC consortium explained that the decision can be considered a protection strategy aimed at reinforcing the denomination’s perception both in the consumers’ minds and also at a legal level.
Prosecco DOC Consortium is the entity that oversees the production of the world’s most popular sparkling wine.
In the new agreement, which includes other trademarks like sherry and port, will see Kiwi traders cease using (phase out) prosecco on their products within the next five years.
Also, during the five-year period, traders in these products must clearly indicate the location of origin on their packaging.
The agreement has been reached just months after China agreed to officially recognize the Italian sparkling wine’s trademark.
The consortium said both Prosecco DOC and the recently introduced Prosecco DOC Rosé category have been on the rise thanks to the eCommerce platform City Hive in service of the Casa Prosecco Online store.
The platform enables consumers to search for and purchase the largest selection of Prosecco DOC from local and national retailers for delivery to their door.
The consortium said the growing success of it year over year is a clear sign that the denomination is trending in the right direction and that Americans are consuming Prosecco more than ever before.
In fact, according to recent research carried out by Nomisma, Prosecco DOC enjoyed particular success in the US, seeing its exports by volume rise to 25.5 million gallons.
This was an increase of 44.3% in 2020 and 40.3% in 2019 which stood at 17.6 million gallons.
The research also identifies Prosecco DOC Rosé as a key driver of the wider DOC’s growth in 2021, with 71.5 million bottles produced last year.
At the period of the survey, Italy was the second-largest exporter of sparkling wines, with a total export value of more than US$1.8 million.
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