Germany Sour Over US-EU Wine Deal

The EU has approved a transatlantic deal opening the glutted European wine market to imports from the US. But Germany has called for imposing a "purity law" to protect European wines from US vintners' practices.

German Agriculture Minister Horst Seehofer said a new European Union code is necessary to assure the quality of European wines. US practices such as adding water to dilute the alcohol and ageing wine with woodchips to improve flavor are unacceptable in Europe, he said.

"It's absolutely unclear why we bother having rules for the production and labeling of wine in Europe if they are not applied to agreements with other countries," he said.

Numerous European lawmakers have long accused the US industry of cheapening wine by using the new methods. Adding water and sugar to wine is permitted in the United States but not the EU, as are so-called designer wines, which are separated into their various components in laboratories before being rebuilt for a more consistent taste.

But under the deal reached by EU and US negotiators, which only Germany, Austria and Portugal opposed, the two sides will mutually recognize each other's winemaking practices. They will also open more detailed talks on protecting geographical indications and the status of low alcohol wines.

European culture or artificial product?

Faced with the new agreement, Italy has asked for a change in EU law to allow the use of wood chips. The EU has already allowed scientific testing but it is still banned commercially.

Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: EU winemakers are more restricted than US producers
The president of the Association of German Prädikat Wine Estates, Michael Prinz zu Salm-Salm, said he is hopeful it will stay that way.

"We are wine growers, not winemakers," he said. "We take what nature gives us to carefully craft the best wines we can. I'm worried that customers won't be able to recognize whether they're buying a part of European culture or an artificial product."

But many EU member states said they supported the 2.3 billion-euro ($2.7 billion) deal because it avoids burdensome certification procedures that might further slow sluggish sales outside of Europe.

They were also eager to see the US administration move on limiting the use of 17 European names on American wines such as Burgundy, Champagne and Chianti that until now have been considered "semi-generic" in the United States.

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Heath said:

Ja !!!! and I am going to order online direct from Germany for some good wine.

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deafclimber said:

true... my fiancee and i dont like some of america wines... too cheap ! lol. but there are very few real wines like napa valley's wineries. they are real wines, however i am picky on those wines...

my favorite wines are imported to here from spain. i love them. my fiancee loves her favorite new zealand's wines. she brought 32 wines from new zealand last year. lmao !

next month we will bring a lot of wines to here from argentina and chile when we will be on honeymoon ! cant wait to sip some tastes !

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Liebling:-))) said:

which kind of wine you really want to try? Did you know anything about sort of wine?

Dry wine ?
Sweet wine ? - not for me because of headache...
Medium wine ?


http://www.wiederkehrwines.com/allwine.html

http://www.winepage.de/food.html


Wine tasting... We taste any wines in Germany before buy them...
http://www.meijer.com/wineguide/2.html

http://www.meijer.com/wineguide/world.html


http://www.wegmans.com/news/featureStories/120101_wineAndCheese.asp

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Liebling:-))) said:

Interesting, my hubby want to try American wine but it should be quality. I found from the link that there´re good wines between Texas and Maryland...
http://www.meijer.com/wineguide/world.html

Have you try any wine from Texas and Maryland? If yes, what´s your opinion? did you know any American wine with quality because my hubby want to try it... ? I told my hubby what the news of German said about US over wine deal today. He was like but I told him that I ask you which good American wine because you are wine lover as us.

wow, your fiancee brought many wines from New Zealand... She must be lucky that she didn´t caught by flight custom...

It look like that there´re no wines in the world in your country. Right?

We have many wines from different countries to sell here in Germany... It´s normal that you are picky on wine qualities. Germans including my hubby & I are picky on wine qualities.

We had been tried Australian, Italy, Spanish, German and French wines. I would say that French red wine are good but bit strong so I dulited it half water. French and German white wine.. mmmhhhhh... Rose wine. mmmhhh Italy red wine... mmmmhhhh I like most of German wines. Spanish is also good. Australian wine.. mmhhh... we love it... We bought Australian wines with special offer at few weeks ago.

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deafclimber said:

oh we do have million imported wines here... like i said before, i love spanish wines where i buy at any store - Marques de Riscal Rioja Reserva which is my favorite wine - try that if u have it in ur town. several friends from England told me they enjoyed drinking my treated wines - El Coto Rioja 2001 which is from Spain also.

per your request about american wines... i am not sure about any winery between texas and east coast. i have tried some wines from notheast which i think are allright. i dont like my town's winery. its wines taste cheap ! lol.

personally i always like the wines from west coast( north californa to washington) especially any wineries in napa valley. my favorite american wine in napa valley is Montoya cabernet Sauvignon 2000. it is very HARD i mean HARD to find it at stores. it is perfect smooth and no dry. also you can find many lists of wineries in napa valley - http://napavalley.com

bringing the wines to usa from other countries is legal. as i was told, they were approved.

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sequoias said:

The wines from Yakima Valley in Washington state is also good, too. It's also called Napa Valley of the North. My parents live in the wine country aka Sonoma County, there's tons of vineyards all over the place there.

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Heath said:

Liebling , It will be my first time to order online with a credit card so I never ordered online. I like the red wines... which one do you recommend? I also want to order some German Peppermint Schnapps from Germany. I am going to take a look at the websites you provided.

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Heath said:

Liebling... interesting from the website link that you provided.

http://www.meijer.com/wineguide/world.html

German white wines are the best and very well known. My family tends to graviate towards red wine. I will be sure to order some white wines. Do you know a good and reputable German winery store that I can order online from and have them send it to America please? Thank you

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deafclimber said:

true... my fiancee and i dont like some of america wines... too cheap ! lol. but there are very few real wines like napa valley's wineries. they are real wines, however i am picky on those wines...

my favorite wines are imported to here from spain. i love them. my fiancee loves her favorite new zealand's wines. she brought 32 wines from new zealand last year. lmao !

next month we will bring a lot of wines to here from argentina and chile when we will be on honeymoon ! cant wait to sip some tastes !

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deafclimber said:

hey my mistake ! actually she brought 18 wines not 32 wines... she said she had no problem to bring the wines to here from NZ. she suggested if you go to any wineries in other country, be sure to ask them if you can the wines to America or your own country. she did ask the wineries in new zealand and they said it is legal.

hope this help ya !

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deafclimber said:

hey my mistake ! actually she brought 18 wines not 32 wines... she said she had no problem to bring the wines to here from NZ. she suggested if you go to any wineries in other country, be sure to ask them if you can bring the wines to America or your own country. she did ask the wineries in new zealand and they said it is legal.

hope this help ya !

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deafclimber said:

i missed a verb, bring, in that sentence. my work is on my mind...

sowwies...

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