Port naming restrictions unlikely to affect wine industry

A wine industry expert on Monday said the pending European Union restriction on the local industry using the name ‘port’ on its products is unlikely to have a dramatic effect on the industry. Wines of South Africa spokesperson Andre Morgenthal said the restriction has been in the pipeline for some time and comes into effect at the beginning of 2012.

The word port can only be used by manufacturers in a specific region in Europe.

Morgenthal explained that local port suppliers have been very clever about changing their brand names over the last decade. “For example Cape Vintage and Cape Late Bottled are all styles of port but they do not use the word port. People who drink port will understand that if they see Cape Late Bottled, that it is a port-style wine,” he said.

He said the absence of the name is unlikely to have a dramatic effect on the industry. “Port style wines are not really a huge segment of our export total volumes. While we make world class port, it is in very small volumes compared to the international production of port-style wines,” he said.

He said the agreement between the EU and the South African government has taken more than a decade to be finalised. “That agreement was never ratified by our government and it has been dragging on for years. The word port on our products will only be phased out on our products from 1 January 2012,” he said.