by Michael Fridjhon
The South African National Department of Agriculture has finally issued regulations governing the labelling of Port and Sherry to incorporate the agreement reached with the European Union several years ago. Negotiations over wine and spirits with the EU almost foundered on nomenclature issues around these two products. The debate so delayed the bilateral trade agreement that a separate accord with retrospective application - was reached some two years after the signing of the main treaty.
In terms of that agreement the generic terms Port and Sherry may be used in Sub-Saharan Africa until 2008 and in South Africa until January 2012. The EU undertook to make a separate payment to South Africa to compensate for the loss of intellectual property rights enjoyed by producers of these beverages. Old Brown Sherry and Ship Sherry are amongst the biggest selling fortified wines in the domestic market.
The new labelling regulations govern sales to the EU and will no doubt apply in the domestic and Southern African export markets after the phasing out period. In the Port category many of the generic terms remain though without the Port moniker as Cape Ruby, Cape Tawny, Cape Late Bottled Vintage and Cape Vintage. For Sherry a similar labelling arrangement will permit the use of terms like Fino and Amontillado though without mention of the word Sherry.
The EU\'s payment in compensation has become something of a political football: some has apparently been designated for empowerment and transformation, though such beneficiaries by definition would not have suffered any loss as a consequence of the prohibition of the use of the terms in question. Who receives the money and how it is to be spent will no doubt engage government and industry officials for some time.
