Wine accord between the EU and the US signed

On March 10 the agreement on wine was finally signed by the EU Farm Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel and the US Trade Representative Rob Portman. The purpose of the agreement is to facilitate trade in wine by e.g. mutually accepting each other’s wine making practices. As an example, up until now, selling US wines in Europe has required special permissions since it has not been made according to EU norms (and vice-versa). The agreement also means that some “appellations” or region-specific names, such as chablis, burgundy, champagne etc. will be protected and can only be used for wines from those regions. Existing wine brands using those names in the US will be allowed to continue using them though. Wine exports from the US to the EU reached $325 million last year and EU wine sales to the US $2.6 billion.
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