Italy loses wine war to Hungary

Italy will lose the name of one of its most popular wines, "Tocai," in the near future.

The battle over this famously named white wine, Tocai, dates back centuries when the Hungarian wine firm Monipex, obviously feeling deprived, took legal action against Italy, arguing that only wine produced in Tokaji, Hungary could bear the name "Tocai."

Therefore, Italy must now re-name/re-launch this once famous wine as "Friulano."
Wine connoisseur Bruno Pizzul from the centre of the Italian Tocai vineyards in Gorizia, said, “It is not easy to relaunch a wine which has lost its name. In the wine industry, labeling is all.”

Although both Hungary and Italy were given the rights by the European Court of Justice in Luxemburg for the wine to bear the name, "Tocai," it was revamped in 2004 when Hungary agreed to join the European Union (EU) and given the sole rights of the Tokai label. Thus proving that the Tocai brand wine must be an extremely important staple to the Hungarian society.

Although an appeal was made by the Friuli-Venezia-Giulia region of Italy to the European Court was made, it was rebuked. The judges then decided that the Italian version of Tocai, “does not qualify as a geographical indication” because “it has no special quality, reputation or characteristic that is attributable to its geographic origin”.

Oddly enough, the Italian version differs vastly from that of the Hungarian version in that, the Italian Tocai is a pungent and dry white wine, made solely from the Tocai grape, verses the Hungarian Tokai (or Tokaji) which is a sweet, after-dinner dessert wine, made using Furmint and Haréslvelü grapes.

According to Count Filippo Formentini, whose family has been producing Tocai wine for centuries says that this name could be traced back to 1632 when his female relative, Countess Aurora Formentini, married Count Adam Batthyany of Hungary, thus acquiring 300 Tocai vines as part of her dowry.

Although the European government has promised €15 million (£10 million) in financial aid to the Italian wine producers to help promote the newly named “Friulano" wine, formerly known as "Tocai," Italians are still skeptical.Marco Felluga, a leading Friuli wine producer, feels that the loss of the Tocai brand wine is “incredible . . . Italy has lost its wine war with Hungary. It’s like saying that from tomorrow Italians cannot call pizza, pizza any more.”

check out the article from:
The Times
Oct. 9, 2006
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,5-2394850,00.html#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=Business