Ports of call

Seppeltsfield Cellar and Mazuran Vintage Port. Photos / Babiche Martens

Apera and topaque may sound like a couple of things you wouldn't want to catch, but they're actually the new names Australia has adopted for its "sherry" and "tokay" wines.

Following an agreement with the European Union, Australia has been forced to relinquish the names it's borrowed from the traditional appellations of Europe. However, here in New Zealand, where no such deal has been struck, we can still quaff local "sherries" and "ports", although as our wine industry builds a reputation for its own regional specialities, things are starting to change.

As in our country, terms such as port and sherry have been used on Australia's homegrown products for over a century. Tokay was perceived as being too close to Hungary's dessert wine, Tokaji, while sherry is being reclaimed by the Spanish for their historic fortified wines. Port is another name being phased out, which will now have to be described as either "vintage" or "tawny".

Rather than causing confusion, Chris Pfeiffer of Rutherglen's Pfeiffer Wines - the first winery to relabel its tokays as topaques - reports: "We're seeing a positive acceptance from consumers who appear to understand the obligation we have to change the name. The category has also been re-invigorated with stories about the name change."

Both wine producers and drinkers appear comfortable that things needed to be set straight. It was due to the reputations that these styles built up in their original regions that the terms became adopted elsewhere, while their makers rightfully assert that they should be the only ones trading on the designations that relate to their traditional wines.

Here in New Zealand, the only European name we're currently banned from using on our own wines is Champagne, following a court ruling in the early 1990s. The only restrictions currently in place concern names deemed "misleading and deceptive", with local ports and sherries not currently considered to be so, having been produced by the country for so long.

However, that could change if like Australia, we enter into an agreement with the EU.

More contentious has been the EU's ban on traditional wine terms, such as "Chateau", "Clos" and even "fine" and "classic". In the US, permission to use these terms ran out this year causing something of an outcry.

"This has applied to us for some years now," says New Zealand Winegrower's policy manager, John Barker, "although like all non-EU countries we completely reject the idea that there can be some sort of quasi-intellectual property rights over what are actually generic terms. However, in practice, the rules around traditional terms are rather murky and don't seem to have been enforced, against us at least ... which is not to say they won't."

Following the Geographical Indications Act passed in 2006, New Zealand is in the process of delineating its regions and registering their names.

It's a move that should help ensure producers in other countries don't start cashing in our successes by producing Marlborough sauvignon blanc from the likes of Montlouis or Central Otago pinot noir from Poitiers.

New Zealand has moved on from sipping pseudo-sauternes to making wines others wish to emulate. Appropriating national icons may be a less clear-cut affair than that of regional names. But if a wine's any good, rather than hijacking the identity of another popular product, it should be proud of, and promote, its true provenance.

NEW TRADITIONS

TASTY TAWNY
Seppeltsfield Cellar No 7 Tawny, South Australia $34.99
A good value tawny made from shiraz and grenache, whose rich, sweet, spicy palate is layered with hazelnut and caramel and lifted by a fresh note of orange barley sugar. (From www.vinofino.co.nz.)

LAST OF THE TOKAYS
Campbells Rutherglen Tokay NV (375ml) $24.95
Think spiced stewed prunes infused with tea and smothered in vanilla custard and you'll get close to the sweet delights offered by this rich but fresh tokay. (From Fine Wine Delivery Company, Artisan Fine Wines, Village Winery, Liquorland Orewa, Liquor King Napier, Amphora Wines.)

LOCAL PORT
Mazuran's Vintage Port 1980 $92
One of the few fortified specialists remaining in the country, Mazuran's has stocks of port-style fortifieds going back decades, such as this luscious, smooth example with its intense notes of raisin, dried fig, spice and tobacco. (From La Barrique, Scenic Cellars or direct from www.mazurans.co.nz/0800 PORT WINE.)