PROSECCO (ITALY) — Milos Skabar, a small-scale winemaker, is restoring a centuries-old tradition of Prosekar. It shares roots with Prosecco, its more well-known cousin.
This simple fizzy blend is almost unknown outside of Trieste, Italy, where it’s produced on a strip land between the Adriatic Sea, Slovenia and Italy. However, Prosecco’s makers are trying to stop Prosek’s sweet dessert wine producers from using Prosecco’s name.
A few Prosekar producers hope to make their Prosecco-related connections, just above Trieste. However, they are concerned about their reputation.
Skabar said, “Prosekar wine, because it was created 300 years before Prosecco,” as he surveyed his vineyard, with a port view and the hills of Slovenia visible in the distance. It is the father of Prosekar and Prosecco and Prosek, as well as all the rest.
The battle involves more than Prosecco’s sanctity, which is the top-selling wine in the world. It also threatens the European Union’s system for geographical designations, which are meant to ensure the quality and distinctiveness of artisanal food and wine, as well as spirits. According to the 2020 study of the European Commission, which is the EU’s executive branch, this market is worth close to 75 billion euros ($87 million) each year. Half of that amount goes to wines.
As the European Commission prepares for the discussion on Croatia’s request to label its niche wine with the Prosek name, the Italian government has promised to protect Prosecco’s brand.
“The problem is not that these small-scale producers enter our market. It is not the quantity of bottles they produce that are a problem, it is the confusion it can cause among consumers,” stated Luca Giavi (general director of Prosecco DOC consortium), which promotes Prosecco wine and ensures quality wines with the EU’s “denominations of controlled origin” designation.
Prosecco’s annual sales are 2.4 billion euros ($2.8 million), with most of its exports. Producer Stefano Zanette stated that everyone perceives the situation to be a threat to their success. It is possible that worldwide buyers will not be able to differentiate between similar names.
Croatia claims that Prosek’s name and tradition are centuries old and predate Prosecco’s protections in EU system. It also claims that Prosek’s place as a dessert wine distinguishes it from Prosecco.
Ladislav Ilic, a Croatian member to the European Parliament, stated in a recent debate that “Consumers won’t be confused by this.” Prosek should be able to legitimately obtain the protected designation of origin. Producers should also have full access.
The European Federation of Origin Wines, based in Brussels, is currently preparing a briefing to assist Italy. It believes that the European Commission’s decision not to hear the case is a victory in its battle to get other countries and trading blocs to recognise the EU’s system for geographic designations.
Prosecco’s history, which stemmed from Prosecco’s bilingual Italian village near Trieste’s Slovenian border, will likely be the key to the dispute. This is where winemaking was once thriving.
According to Prosekar’s ethnic Slovene Italians, it is from here that Prosecco and Prosekar were born.
Prosecco, Prosek, and Prosekar have very little in common, besides their common etymological roots.
Three consortia produce prosecco, primarily from the Glera grape. They are located in nine Italian provinces, at the foothills of the alpine, that curve along the Adriatic Sea. They produce more than 550,000,000 bottles annually.
Prosek, a sweet wine made from dried native Croatian grapes (none of which are Glera), is produced in Dalmatia. It can be either red or white.
Prosekar is a blend of Glera, two other grapes and made by less than a dozen micro-producers. Prosekar was traditionally made at home, shared with family, friends and neighbors in the past. It was often served from private taverns or homes.
Prosecco producers moved to protect their prized geographical indication 12 years back, after winemakers in northern Italy lost the right to use Tocai’s label in a European decision. This European decision protected wines from Hungary’s Tokaji area. Tocai in Italy was the name of the grape variety and had no geographical ties. Friuli Tocai’s makers were devastated by the decision. They struggled to find a new market name, Friulano.
The history of Venetian, then Austro-Hungarian rule spanned the period Prosecco moved northwest into Italy and south along Croatia’s Dalmatian coastline.
Prosecco supporters claim that the name Prosek was not used in a uniform way and has come to refer to any type of dessert wine.
Written documents connect the village of Prosecco with wine as far back as the 1600s or 1700s. Wine historian Stefano Cosma stated that wines were “of Prosecco”, to indicate their origin village. He said that it was already sparkling wine by the 1800s.
Prosecco winemakers in Prosekar hope that, because the EU has included their village in the geographical territory for protected wine, it will allow them to expand their market for Prosekar which, according to them, was first produced in 1548.
Prosekar wine producers cannot use their names because they have not been awarded the EU label. Andrej Bole (sixth-generation Prosekar producer) said that they have not been challenged so long as they don’t sell beyond Trieste.
Bole stated, “We are outlaws.” Bole said that “for now, however, we are tolerated.”
They are working closely with the Prosecco consortium in order to help their wine achieve the coveted origin signia, which is presented with every vintage. The head of the consortium stated that the legality of using Prosekar’s name will not be resolved until this hurdle has been cleared.
Giavi stated, “We must look at the European norms.” “But, there’s that option, which is not what we mind.”
