Winemaker blasts EU's labelling concession

Meridiana, the local winery, yesterday criticised the two-year transition period granted to Malta for the implementation of EU wine labelling regulations.

Managing director Mark Miceli-Farrugia said the agreement was "not so much a concession by the EU as a show of faint-heartedness by the Maltese agricultural authorities who negotiated this reprieve".

According to the regulations, winemakers cannot display the vintage year and grape variety on wine made from imported grapes or grape must. Local wineries have now been granted a two-year reprieve before this rule applies to them.

Mr Miceli-Farrugia said the regulations distinguish who may or may not display the vintage year and grape variety for a "specific, agriculture-enhancing purpose"; they are designed to protect farmers and winemakers within specific zones from unfair competition from other areas.

"They also safeguard consumers by helping them identify exactly what they are drinking," he said.

Mr Miceli-Farrugia said that in seeking a transition period, local authorities demonstrated that they "either do not understand the basis of these regulations or that they do not have confidence in the ability of industrial winemakers to abide by internationally recognised wine labelling rules".

He said the majority of Maltese people had endorsed Malta's mission of adhering to European standards of doing business, including the qualitative production and labelling of foods and beverages, on at least two occasions.

"I have sufficient confidence in Maltese consumers to believe they will once again, by choosing their wine purchases selectively, remind the authorities of why they voted for Europe in the first place," he said.