Brussels, 18/03/2003 (Agence Europe) - The EU Council adopted without debate, on Monday, a proposal aimed at authorising Argentina - until 30 September 2003 - to market, on Community territory, wines containing malic acid according to their wine-making practices (see EUROPE of 5 February). Only Italy voted against the regulation which could not be adopted at the Agriculture Council of 20 February as there were mistakes in the English version of the lawyer-linguist documents. The authorisation, to take effect retroactively, allows the problem of Argentinean bottles of wine blocked in Germany since 2001 because of their malic acid content to be resolved.
This decision will apply until the expected forthcoming conclusion of a new EU/Argentina agreement on wines (mainly covering wine-making practice and the protection of geographical denominations), which should confirm that this country is authorised to use malic acid when processing wine. If no agreement is reached from 30 September 2003, extension of authorisation could be envisaged.
We recall that the use of malic acid is no longer authorised for Community wines, but that it is tolerated solely for third country wines within the framework of trade agreements (EU/Chile, EU/United States). The aim of this decision is therefore also to prevent Argentina from going before the WTO for differentiated treatment compared to the other trading partners of the EU (Chile, United States). We would point out that malic acid is an alcohol acid (either synthetic or natural) which is present in apples and citrus fruit and which gives wine a sweet and fruity taste.