November the 28th, 2021 - Could the Croatian term Prosek finally be protected by the European Commission (EC) and put an end to the dispute between Croatia and neighbouring Italy?

As Morski writes, On Friday, November the 26th, 2021, State Secretary Tugomir Majdak, in the presence of Member of the European Parliament Tonino Picula, participated in a panel entitled "Croatian quality on the European table - the protection of the traditional term Prosek".

The event brought together Prosek producers, oenologists and legal experts to discuss the course of protection, Croatian and Italian arguments and the problems of producers, and a day later, on November the 27th, from 10:00 to 16:00 on Petar Preradovic Square, a public blind tasting of Prosek and Prosecco was planned, with the shooting of a promotional video about the important and undoubted differences between these two wines, all with the tasting and sale of Prosek made by Croatian producers.

Back in 2013, the Ministry of Agriculture submitted a request to the European Commission for the protection of the traditional Croatian term Prosek, and this year, the European Commission closed the application review process and approved it as well-founded and justified, with an expected objection from an Italian organisation.

In order to advocate for successful protection of the Croatian term Prosek at the European level and in order to promote this Croatian wine, a panel was organised at which State Secretary Tugomir Majdak stated:

''I'm satisfied with the development of events in the process of the protection of this wine, which is extremely important for all of us in historical, tourist and gastro-oenological terms. I'd like to remind you that relatively recently, we successfully resolved another wine dispute, which was both legally and technically extremely demanding, and then our producers from Istria were given the opportunity to continue marketing the wine "Teran".

In the same way, the Republic of Croatia now has an answer related to Prosek and that's the only way in which our approach can be based in this case because we really have all the professional, historical and legal arguments for its protection. Croatian producers certainly have a legitimate right and expectation to have their products protected, which have all been produced in the traditional way and with full access to the market as their European counterparts have.

Today, Croatia has 31 products with their names registered in the EU with protected designation of origin or protected geographical indication, and is proud of seventeen protected wine designations of origin, six geographical indications on strong alcoholic beverages and one geographical indication of aromatised wine products.

For more, check out Made in Croatia.

July 6, 2021 - The Guardian UK reported that following a second application by Croatia to the EU for special recognition of prošek as a dessert wine, Italy has taken steps to block the application.

An attempt in 2013 to have the trademark registered was blocked by Italy arguing that the name prosek was too similar to prosecco. Croatia's own winemakers whilst agreeing that the names are similar argue that consumers can distinguish between the two.

Prošek is made using dried grapes and originated in the Dalmatia region which between 1420 and 1797 was ruled by the Republic of Venice, the makers of prošek contend that their wines dates back more than 2,000 years, whilst pointing out that Prosecco was not grown in Italy until the 1930’s when the regions of Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia were officially marked out as Italy’s prosecco producing areas.  

Ivo Duboković, a wine producer in Jelsa on the island of Hvar said “So think about it. The capital of my island used to be Venice, so this is almost like waging a battle against Venetians, and clearly, you are going to find similarities between the two languages. Ask any foreigner I’m sure that 99% of people would understand that they are two different words. As for the product, Prošek is similar to vin santo and prosecco is similar to white wine with fizzy water”.

Italy was granted by the EU in 2009 a denomination of controlled origin (DOC) which means the name can be used only if authorised by the Treviso based producers of prosecco who argues that prosecco has its own identity that cannot be confused at all, whilst Coldiretti, Italy’s main farmers association, said that the move by Croatia was “an attack against Made in Italy”.     

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