The German Bundestag has passed the reform of the German wine law with a large majority. The parliamentary groups of CDU and CSU, SPD, FDP, AfD and Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen voted in favour, the Left Party abstained. The German Winegrowers' Association e.V. (DWV) welcomed this step on the way "to a comprehensive wine law reform towards a stronger profile of origin" and praised the "constructive cooperation between the parliamentary groups in the Parliamentary Wine Forum".
"Today, it was primarily decided on measures such as market stabilisation and sales promotion, which are to flank the new concept of origin. Nevertheless, the debate in the Bundestag has shown us that it is clear to all sides how important this forward-looking reform of the designation law is", said DWV President Klaus Schneider.
The DWV secretary general, Christian Schwörer, emphasised that the most important thing was "planning security for the winegrowers". Therefore, he demands "that compromises are found as soon as possible in the negotiations on the wine regulation". This is the core of the reform with the new rules on the profiling of the origin of German wine to single-vineyard wine. "We continue to advocate a four-tier system in the protected designation of origin with some nationally uniform quality criteria for the local and site wine categories," Schwörer said, " an appropriate transition period for producers to prepare for the changeover is also necessary. The goal is a stronger profiling of origin through further own concepts as well as criteria of the protective associations."
In her speech, Federal Minister Julia Klöckner had emphasised that despite the best qualities of German wine, "market shares are being lost, especially at the international level". According to Klöckner, the new wine law and the wine ordinance should help with regulations to counteract this: "The designation law should - with clearly recognisable origin on the label - become more comprehensible for the consumer."
(uka)