CELEX: 51984PC0283(01)
Language: en
Date: 1984-05-25
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL REGULATION ( EEC ) AMENDING REGULATION ( EEC ) NO 358/79 ON SPARKLING WINES PRODUCED IN THE COMMUNITY AND DEFINED IN ITEM 13 OF ANNEX II TO REGULATION ( EEC ) NO 337/79

9. 7. 84                           Official Journal of the European Communities                       N o C 182/17
                 entering into force on the date on which the Parties notify each other of the com-
                 pletion of the procedures necessary for this purpose. It will remain in force until
                 31 December 1987 unless terminated by one of the Parties by notice given at least
                 six months in advance.
                 I would be grateful if you would confirm the Agreement of the European
                 Economic Community to the arrangements proposed above.'
             I have the honour to confirm that the European Economic Community is in agree-
             ment with the contents of the above letter.
             I would draw your attention to the fact that this letter will be published in the Official
             Journal of the European Communities in the seven official languages of the Com-
             munity, each of the texts being equally authentic.
             Please accept, Sir, the assurance of my highest consideration.
                                                           For the European Economic     Community
             Proposal for a Council Regulation amending Regulation (EEC) No 358/79 on sparkling
             wines produced in the Community and defined in item 13 of Annex II to Regulation
                                                  (EEC) No 337/79
                                                  COM(84) 283 final
                           (Submitted by the Commission to the Council on 5 June 1984)
                                                    (84/C 182/07)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN                                   for consumers, it is necessary to specify that the
COMMUNITIES,                                                  provisions governing the preparation of quality
                                                              sparkling wines apply also to quality sparkling
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the Euro-            wines produced in specified regions;
pean Economic Community, and in particular
Article 43 thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commis-                Whereas Council Regulation (EEC) No 337/79 (3),
sion,                                                         as last amended by Regulation (EEC) No 1595/
                                                              83 (4), authorizes, since its amendment by Regula-
                                                              tion (EEC) No 453/80 (5), the use of rectified con-
Having regard to the opinion of the European
                                                               centrated grape must for increasing the natural
Parliament,                                                    alcoholic strength by volume of table wines and
                                                              quality sparkling wines produced in specified
Whereas experience suggests that some amendments               regions; whereas it should therefore also be author-
should be made to Council Regulation (EEC)                     ized as a constituent of tirage liqueur and expedi-
No 358/79 ('), as last amended by Regulation                   tion liqueur;
(EEC) No 3456/80 (2), in order to take account of
technological progress and to ensure consistency
between the various provisions on the common
organization of the market in wine;                            Whereas, in view of the increase in minimum
                                                              natural alcoholic strength in the various wine-
Whereas, so as to provide better information for              growing zones provided for in Regulation (EEC)
manufacturers of sparkling wines, for the trade and
                                                              (3) OJNoL54, 5. 3. 1979, p. 1.
(') OJNoL54, 5.3. 1979, p. 130.                               (4) OJNoL163, 22. 6. 1983, p. 48.
(2) OJ No L 360, 31. 12. 1980, p. 18.                         (5) OJ No L 57, 29. 2. 1980, p. 1.
 ---pagebreak---  N o C 182/18                     Official Journal of the European Communities                               9. 7. 84
 No . . . O in order to ensure enhanced ripeness of              'The provisions of this Regulation, with the
 grapes used in wine-making, the minimum natural                 exception of Title II, shall also apply to the
 alcoholic strength of the constituents of the cuvee             quality sparkling wines produced in specified
 intended to produce a sparkling wine should also be            regions covered by the provisions of Regulation
 adjusted;                                                       (EEC) No 338/79.'
 Whereas, for reasons of order and clarity, Article 8            In paragraphs 1 and 2 of Article 4 the following
 of Regulation (EEC) No 358/79 should be deleted                indent is added after the words 'concentrated
 since its provisions are covered by the general rules          grape must':
 on the description and presentation of sparkling               '— rectified concentrated grape must,'.
 wines and aerated sparkling wines laid down pur-
 suant to Article 54 (1) of Regulation (EEC)
 No 337/79;
                                                             3. Article 5 (1) (d) is replaced by the following:
                                                                '(d) the following alcoholic strength limits are
Whereas it appears from a report which the Com-                      not exceeded:
mission submitted to the Council at its request (2)
that lowering the total maximum levels of sulphur                        3,5 % vol for a cuvee composed of con-
dioxide in sparkling wines is compatible with cur-                       stituents from wine-growing zone A,
rent oenological knowledge and technological pro-                        provided that the natural alcoholic
gress; whereas, with a view to restricting the use of                    strength of each constituent is at least
all food additives to the minimum strictly necessary,                    6 % vol, with the exception of that part
the total maximum levels of sulphur dioxide should                       of the zone corresponding to the speci-
be reduced by 25 milligrams per litre for all                            fied regions Mosel-Saar-Ruwer, Ahr,
sparkling wines;                                                         Mittelrhein and Moselle luxembour-
                                                                         geoise, for which the alcoholic strength
                                                                         shall be 5,5% vol;
Whereas the use of modern preparation methods,                           however, in years when weather condi-
the fragility of certain wines used in the composi-                      tions are exceptionally unfavourable,
tion of the cuvee and the quality of production jus-                     the limit specified in the preceding sub-
tify shortening the minimum preparation period for                       paragraph may be raised to 4,5 % vol,
quality sparkling wines from nine to six months                          provided that the natural alcoholic
where the fermentation process designed to make                          strength by volume of each constituent
the wines sparkling takes place in closed tanks;                         of the cuvee is at least 6 % vol or 5,5 %
                                                                         vol respectively,
                                                                         2,5 % vol for a cuvee composed of con-
Whereas, in order to ensure that only traditional                         stituents from wine-growing zone B,
practices are used in the preparation of quality                          provided that the natural alcoholic
sparkling wines of the aromatic type, it is necessary                     strength by volume of each constituent
to specify that such sparkling wines may be                               is at least 7 % vol;
obtained only from grape musts or partially fer-
mented musts obtained from certain varieties whose                        however, in years when weather condi-
fermentation has been arrested by refrigeration,                          tions are exceptionally unfavourable,
                                                                          the limit specified in the preceding sub-
                                                                          paragraph may be raised to 3,5 % vol,
                                                                          provided that the natural alcoholic
                                                                          strength by volume of each constituent
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:                                              of the cuvee is at least 7 % vol,
                                                                         2 % vol for a cuvee composed of consti-
                        Article 1                                        tuents from wine-growing zone C I (a),
                                                                         C I (b), C II or C III, provided that the
Regulation (EEC) No 358/79 is hereby amended as                          natural alcoholic strength by volume of
follows:                                                                 each constituent is at least 8 % vol,
                                                                         8,5 % vol, 9 % vol or 9,5 % vol respec-
1. The following paragraph is added to Article 2:
                                                                         tively,
                                                                         The above limits shall in no way pre-
(')  COM(83) 639final,25. 11. 1983.                                      judice the application of the second
(2) COM(81) 730final,30. 11. 1981.                                       subparagraph of Article 48 (3) (a) of
 ---pagebreak--- 9. 7. 84                              Official Journal of the European Communities                           NoC 182/19
                 Regulation (EEC) No 337/79 to cuvees            9. Article 17 is replaced by the following:
                 intended for the preparation of sparkl-
                 ing wines and, up to 31 August 1987, to               'Article 17
                 cuvees intended for the preparation of
                 quality sparkling wines other than                   1. The duration of the process of making
                 quality sparkling wines produced in                  quality sparkling wines, including ageing in the
                 specified regions;'.                                 undertaking where they are made and reckoned
                                                                      from the start of the fermentation process
                                                                      designed to make the wines sparkling, may not
                                                                      be:
4.   Article 5 (1) (0 is replaced by the following:
                                                                      (a) less than six months where the fermentation
     '(f) enrichment by the method used, except                             process designed to make the wines sparkl-
           where rectified concentrated grape must is                       ing takes place in closed tanks;
           employed, is practised in the Member State
           concerned, either traditionally or exception-              (b) less than nine months where the fermenta-
           ally, in accordance with the rules existing                      tion process designed to make the wines
           on 24 November 1974.'                                            sparkling takes place in the bottle.
                                                                      2. The duration of the fermentation process
                                                                      referred to in paragraph 1 (a) and the presence
5.   Article 8 is deleted.                                            of the wine on the lees may not be less than
                                                                      75 days. However, if fermentation takes place in
                                                                      containers with stirrers, the minimum period
6.    Article 12 is amended as follows:                               shall be 30 days.
      (a) paragraph 1 is replaced by the following:                   3. Detailed rules for the application of this
                                                                      Article shall be adopted in accordance with the
           '1. Without prejudice to any more restric-
                                                                      procedure laid down in Article 67 of Regulation
           tive provisions which Member States may
                                                                      (EEC) No 337/79.'
           apply to sparkling wines produced on their
           territory, the total sulphur dioxide of sparkl-
           ing wines may not exceed 225 mg/1.'                   10. Article 18 (1) is replaced by the following:
      (b) paragraph 3 is deleted.                                     '1. Quality sparkling wines of the aromatic
                                                                      type may be produced only by using as the sole
      (c) paragraph 4 is replaced by the following:                   constituents of the cuvee grape musts or par-
            'Detailed rules for the application of this               tially fermented grape musts:
            Article shall be adopted in accordance with               — which were obtained from the vine varieties
            the procedure laid down in Article 67 of                        listed in the Annex, and
            Regulation (EEC) No 337/79.'
                                                                      — which have been prevented from fermenting
                                                                            by refrigeration.
 7.   Article 15 (1) is replaced by the following:                    The addition of expedition liqueur shall be pro-
      '1. In preparing the tirage liqueur intended for                hibited.
      the preparation of quality sparkling wine, only                  However, quality sparkling wine of the aromatic
      the following may be used in addition to suc-                    type may be produced by using as constituents
      rose or rectified concentrated grape must:                       of the cuvee wines obtained from grapes of the
       — grape must or partially fermented grape                       "Prosecco" vine variety harvested in the regions
             must from which a wine suitable for yield-                of Trentino-Alto Adige, Veneto and Friuli-
                                                                       Venezia Giulia.'
             ing a table wine can be obtained,
       — wines suitable for yielding a table wine,                11. Article 22 is replaced by the following.
       — table wines,
             or                                                         'Article 22
       — quality wines psr.'                                           Sparkling wines within the meaning of item 13
                                                                       of Annex II to Regulation (EEC) No 337/79,
                                                                       which conformed to the provisions of this Regu-
  8. Article 16 is amended as follows:                                 lation in force at the time they were made and
                                                                       the conditions for whose preparation or certain
       (a) paragraph 1 is replaced by the following:
                                                                        of whose analytical properties no longer con-
              '1. The total sulphur dioxide content of                  form to the provisions of this Regulation as the
               quality sparkling wines may not exceed                  result of an amendment thereto, may be kept for
               175 mg/1.'                                               sale, put on the market and exported until
        (b) paragraph 3 is deleted.                                     stocks are exhausted.'
 ---pagebreak---  No C 182/20                         Official Journal of the European Communities                             9. 7. 84
                         Article 2                              This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and
                                                                directly applicable in all Member States.
 This Regulation shall enter into force on 1 Septem-
 ber 1984.
             Proposal for a Council Regulation amending Regulation (EEC) No 338/79 laying down
                       special provisions relating to quality wines produced in specified regions
                                                   COM(84) 283. final
                             (Submitted by the Commission to the Council on 5 June 1984)
                                                      (84/C 182/08)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN                                    prevent a break in continuity in the rules applicable
COMMUNITIES,                                                   to quality sparkling wines.
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the Euro-
pean Economic Community, and in particular
Article 43 thereof,                                             HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Having regard to the proposal from the Commis-                                         Article 1
sion,
                                                               Article 12 of Regulation (EEC) No 338/79 is hereby
Having regard to the opinion of the European Par-              amended as follows:
liament,
                                                               1.   Paragraphs 3, 4, 6 and 7 are deleted with effect
Whereas according to Article 2 (2) of Council Regu-                 from 1 September 1984.
lation (EEC) No 3 5 8 / 7 9 ( 0 , as last amended by
                                                               2.   Paragraph 5 is replaced by the following:
Regulation (EEC) No             , the provisions of that
Regulation, with the exception of Title II, apply                   '5. For quality sparkling wines psr produced in
also, from 1 September 1984, to quality sparkling                   Italy, whose preparation began between 1 Sep-
wines produced in specified regions covered by the                  tember 1983 and 31 August 1984, the duration
provisions of Council Regulation (EEC) No 338/                      of the preparation process may be less than nine
79 (2), as last amended by Regulation (EEC)                         months but not less than six months, provided
No 2145/82 ( 3 ); whereas paragraphs 3, 4, 6 and 7 of               that the quality sparkling wines psr in question
Article 12 of the latter Regulation should therefore                were defined by national rules adopted before
be deleted with effect from 1 September 1984;                        1 September 1981'.
Whereas it is also necessary to extend by one year
the derogation provided for in Article 12 (5) of                                       Article 2
Regulation (EEC) No 338/79 authorizing a shorter
preparation process for certain quality sparkling
                                                               This Regulation shall enter into force on the third
wines produced in specified regions in Italy so as to
                                                               day following its publication in the Official Journal
                                                               of the European Communities.
(') OJNoL54, 5. 3. 1979, p. 130.
(2) OJ No L 54, 5. 3. 1979, p. 48.                             This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and
(3) OJ No L 227, 3. 8. 1982, p. 10.                            directly applicable in all Member States.