Group calls for protection of Marlborough name in wine

Marlborough wines should be named after their region - like French champagne and burgundy - to protect their growing international reputation, says a business lobby group.

Marlborough Economic Development Trust chairman Tony Smale said a wine appellation or similar system was required to control the use of the "Marlborough wine" description.

His suggestion could see New Zealand wines named "Marlborough" or "Hawkes Bay" after their region, rather than "chardonnay" or "sauvignon blanc" after their grape varieties.

The idea follows anger from the region's wine industry last month that Marlborough sauvignon blanc was being sold by the cask at a British supermarket.

An appellation system is widely used in Europe to reflect the regional origin of wines and the Napa Valley in California successfully lobbied the US Government to create an appellation in 2001.

He said New Zealand could learn from the Napa Valley experience. The area's growers had lobbied for the appellation system to "provide relief from deceptive and predatory marketing practices".

However New Zealand Wine Growers chief executive Philip Gregan doubted New Zealand vintners would back an appellation system as it imposed restrictions on grape growing within regions.

He said the Geographic Indications Act, which would register geographic locations, was a development that would help provide a more robust system of regional identification for wines.

Wine Marlborough chief executive Michelle Beckett said another option was to look at applying a quality mark to Marlborough wines.

That would not have the legislative burden of an appellation but would probably require wines to be subject to judging for the mark to apply.

Ms Beckett said the region's history of self regulation had come into play in the recent cask incident and doubted anybody would want to go down that path again in a hurry.

However, Mr Smale said that while self-regulation was important and had been a credit to the industry, "realistically, all that discipline can be undone overnight".

"We need to say if you're using the Marlborough brand, then these are the rules. It's about protecting the wider brand of Marlborough too, which is very valuable because of wine.

- NZPA