A wine-grower may indicate the name of their own holding even if their grapes are pressed on the premises of another wine-grower, ruled the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in a judgment handed down on Thursday 23 November (Case C-354/22).
In Germany, a wine-grower uses the terms ‘wine-growing estate’ and ‘bottled at the estate’ for wine produced from grapes grown according to its own instructions on rented land 70 km from its holding. After the harvest, an on-site press allows the grapes from the vineyards under lease to be processed for 24 hours according to the oenological practices of the eponymous wine-grower. The resulting wine is then transported to its holding.
The Land Rhineland-Palatinate is of the view that the wine-grower may not use the terms in question, arguing that, under Regulation (2019/33) on designations of origin in the wine sector, as amended by Regulation (2021/1375), the vines must be grown exclusively on a single estate and the wine must be made entirely on that holding.
Referred to by the German Federal Administrative Court, the CJEU ruled that the concept of holding may be extended to land under lease located at a certain distance from the wine-grower’s estate, provided that the wine-grower assumes responsibility for the cultivation. If these same conditions are met with regard to the use of the wine press, which must be used exclusively by that wine-grower for the time necessary to press their own grapes, then, in the Court’s view, the winemaking can be considered to have been carried out entirely on that holding.
This applies when employees of the holding which rents out the press carry out the pressing on behalf of the wine-grower who owns the grapes, provided that the pressing is carried out in accordance with the latter’s instructions.
See the Court’s judgment: https://aeur.eu/f/9pr (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)