Australia's wine producers will benefit from improved access to our largest wine export market – Europe – with
an important international agreement signed overnight in Brussels.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Stephen Smith signed the Australia-European Community Agreement on Trade in
Wine with European Union Commissioner for Agriculture Mariann Fischer Boel.

Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Tony Burke welcomed the agreement, saying it would deliver
significant advantages for our winemakers.

The benefits for Australian producers include:

• European recognition of an additional 16 Australian winemaking techniques, including the use of oak
  chips to add flavour
• Simpler arrangements for the approval of winemaking techniques that may be developed in the future
  • Simplified labelling requirements for Australian wine sold in European markets, to allow optional
  information such as the number of standard drinks
• Protection within Europe for Australia's 112 registered geographical indicators, including Barossa
  Valley, Mudgee, Margaret River and Rutherglen
• Australia can continue to use a number of ‘traditional expressions', such as ‘vintage', ‘tawny' and ‘ruby'
  This week's deal replaces an initial 1994 agreement under which Australia agreed to some measures sought by
  the European Community, in return for benefits for our producers.

For example, Australian producers agreed in return to ensure they did not use more than 2,500 European
names such as ‘champagne', ‘port', ‘sherry', ‘chablis', ‘burgundy' and ‘tokay'.

The Federal Government has provided $500,000 to help affected fortified Australian wine producers to rebrand
their products, including sherry and tokay.

In 2007-08 the European Community accounted for around half of all Australian wine exports – worth $1.3
billion. During that year, Australia exported 397 million litres of wine to the EC and imported 18 million litres from
Europe.

Minister Burke said the agreement would protect Australian winemakers' access to the valuable market.

"This shows Australian wines have such a strong global reputation that they don't need to hide behind European names – they can market themselves independently," Mr Burke said. "This agreement will help to ensure Australian wine continues to be enjoyed the world over."