For sparkling wines, the origin may be indicated either as the country from which the grapes originate and in which the base wine was produced, or as the country in which the second fermentation took place and thus the sparkling wine itself was produced. This was decided by the Higher Regional Court (OLG) Frankfurt.
The court has now ruled that the designation is admissible. According to the Wine Labelling Regulation of the European Union, the indication of origin "shall be given by the words 'wine from', 'produced in', 'product from' or equivalent terms, adding the name of the Member State or third country 'where the grapes are harvested and made into wine' (Art. 45(1) of Regulation (EU) 2019/33)."
According to the OLG, this also applies to sparkling wines: In the present case "the grapes would be harvested in Italy and also processed into wine there. The second fermentation, which takes place in Spain, does not change anything about the grape harvest and processing into wine in Italy as defined by the regulation. The phrase 'made into wine' does not mean the final product - sparkling wine - either," the press release says
(CS / press release)