{"id":17337,"date":"2026-05-24T03:41:20","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T03:41:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/17337\/"},"modified":"2026-05-24T03:41:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T03:41:20","slug":"king-valley-prosecco-producers-prepare-for-upcoming-export-label-change-for-italian-wine-variety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/17337\/","title":{"rendered":"King Valley prosecco producers prepare for upcoming export label change for Italian wine variety"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 1999, winemaker Otto Dal Zotto and his wife Elena planted their first rows of prosecco grapes in Whitfield, in north-east Victoria, in a nod to his historic hometown in Italy.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Elena and Otto Dal Zotto are pioneers of Australian prosecco.\u00a0 (ABC Rural: Annie Brown)<\/p>\n

“I was born and grew up in Valdobbiadene, in a place where you can only drink prosecco,” Mr Dal Zotto said.<\/p>\n

“There, prosecco is the most important, even more than water \u2026 I grew up with a bottle of prosecco on the table.”<\/p>\n

Twenty-seven years later, prosecco is now synonymous with the King Valley in Australia.<\/p>\n

More than 45 per cent of the country’s prosecco wine is produced in the cool-climate area just outside Wangaratta.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

Prosecco was first planted in Australia at Dal Zotto Wines in 1999. (ABC Rural: Annie Brown)<\/p>\n

But Australia’s success with the prosecco variety soon became a point of contention with its country of origin.<\/p>\n

Seventeen years ago, the Italian government registered the prosecco production region as a geographical indication<\/a>, restricting use of the name.<\/p>\n

Australian growers feared they would have to give up the prosecco name altogether.<\/p>\n

But they had a win of sorts in March this year, when a deal was reached in a new Australia-European Union Free Trade agreement (FTA).<\/a><\/p>\n

Following years of stop-start negotiations, Australia retained the right to use the name prosecco, with some conditions.<\/p>\n

“So many people said that we would never get there, and we would never win,” Mr Dal Zotto said.<\/p>\n

“We showed that we can do it by sticking together and keep pushing forward.”<\/p>\n

\"Someone<\/p>\n

Prosecco contributes more than $200,000 to the local economy.\u00a0 (ABC Rural: Annie Brown)<\/p>\n

New name for export<\/p>\n

Australia is now the only country outside Italy that is legally permitted to use the name prosecco indefinitely.<\/p>\n

But changes are coming for Australian exports.<\/p>\n

Under the FTA, the Australian government agreed to phase out the use of the term prosecco on exported wines over the next 10 years.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Katherine Brown and Otto Dal Zotto lobbied the federal government to retain rights to use the name of the grape variety, prosecco. (ABC Rural: Annie Brown)<\/p>\n

Brown Brothers winemaker Katherine Brown said the industry is yet to land on a new name for prosecco exports.<\/p>\n

“It’s just prosecco by another name \u2014 let’s see how creative we can get.”<\/p>\n

Currently, 95 per cent of Australian prosecco is consumed domestically, with a small amount mostly exported to New Zealand.<\/p>\n

With the EU negotiations now settled, Ms Brown said producers are keen to find new markets they have not been able to access before.<\/p>\n

“There is a desire in these markets to drink sparking wine, [specifically] Australian sparking wine, so the opportunity is there,” she said.<\/p>\n

“As soon as we have the right name to move into these markets, we will see a boom.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

King Valley winemakers with local MP Helen Haines.\u00a0 (ABC Rural: Annie Brown)<\/p>\n

Rebranding prosecco for export will come at a high cost to the local industry.<\/p>\n

The federal independent member for Indi, Helen Haines, is seeking support from the federal government for the change.<\/p>\n

“This next piece now is to work with industry to come up with a very clear framework around how we make that transition into the export market,” Ms Haines said.<\/p>\n

“It’s a huge opportunity, and we are aspirational in the King Valley.”<\/p>\n

More plantings<\/p>\n

For now, local winemakers and grape growers are celebrating their free trade agreement.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

John Cavedon is a wine grape grower in the King Valley.\u00a0 (ABC Rural: Annie Brown)<\/p>\n

“It gives us certainty to move forward and the confidence in the longevity of prosecco,” King Valley wine grape grower John Cavedon said.<\/p>\n

“We will most likely plant more prosecco vines. Firstly, we have to talk to the companies we supply.<\/p>\n

“The demand for prosecco is very strong \u2014 as a grape grower, it’s the one we get phone calls about.”<\/p>\n

For Mr Dal Zotto, the pioneer of Australian prosecco, he is just happy to see a brighter future for his beloved wine.<\/p>\n

“It took nearly 30 years to get to where we are now, and it’s just great, you know, it’s just unbelievable.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In 1999, winemaker Otto Dal Zotto and his wife Elena planted their first rows of prosecco grapes in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17338,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[22,21,17256,17257,17259,17254,17258,17253,11473,17255,17260],"class_list":["post-17337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-austrlia","tag-export","tag-free-trade-agreement","tag-fta","tag-king-valley","tag-otto-dal-zotto","tag-prosecco","tag-wine","tag-winemakers","tag-wineries"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17337\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}