The ins and outs of GIs

While the act was passed by Government back in 2006, it has taken until this year for the powers that be to decide now is the right time to implement it. NZWinegrowers GM of Advocacy, Jeffrey Clarke says the act's coming into force will play a key role in the marketing and value of New Zealand wine.

But what exactly is a GI and how will having one help you as an industry member?

"The definition has two core elements," Clarke says. "Firstly the GI is the name of the place where the grapes are grown. Secondly there has to be some quality or reputation or characteristic of the wine that is associated with that place. We are talking about how the grapes are grown, the soil, the weather, the diseases and the people who grow them. It is about telling the story, and that is why GIs are powerful and valuable. It is a type of communal intellectual property that lets the people in a region protect and grow the value of the region's name that is associated with that region's wines."

As for what a GI is not – Clarke says that is important too. It is not an appellation controlée – which would determine what viticultural or oenological practices a grower or winery would be forced to abide by.

"There is nothing that talks about what grapes you can grow or what styles of wine you can make. There is nothing that talks about how you market the wines. You will see no reference to appellation controlée."

In fact while the 2006 Act has not been brought into force, many in the wine industry here are already using GIs in terms of identifying their region or sub region on their labels. Which give rise to the question – if we are doing that already – why do we need to have the Geographical Indications Act? Clarke says it is important because of the registration facet of the act.

"A register is a government sanctioned list in which any wine zone or region or sub region can choose to record the details of their GI. And that provides four aspects of value."

1. Reputation and brand. Having a GI allows your region or sub region to tell its own distinctive story, which is critical Clarke says to the success of New Zealand wine.

"Whether a registered GI is as broad as New Zealand or as narrow as Bannockburn or Gladstone, or somewhere in between like say Marlborough, the GI register allows it to be distinctive in the way it is internationally recognised."

2. Market access. Currently New Zealand is the only major wine producing country that does not have a GI system.

"In most cases our unregistered GIs have been accepted by other countries, but the fact that we haven't had a registration system means we are vulnerable to challenges, particularly from the European Union and China."

3. Protection against misuse by third parties. With the GI act, your wine and your region/sub region's reputation has a higher level of protection than is currently available.

"The GI registration Act would strictly prohibit the use of a geographical name on a wine if 85 percent of the grapes do not come from the GI area. And we would be able to robustly challenge someone trying to call their wine a New Zealand style."

4. Access to off shore protection. "Once the GI act is enforced, and it is registered in other countries, our wine receives automatic access to those countries enforcement of GIs."

Clarke says the 2006 Act needs some fine-tuning and cabinet will be asked to consider a handful of amendments prior to it coming into force. But all going well, applications will be accepted from around the middle of next year. The Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand will act as the GI registrar.

They will receive the applications, consider them, set up committees to resolve complex issues and will hold the register of Geographical Indications. All applications will be treated on a first come, first served basis, which means NZW are keen to have the major GIs all set to go at the same time.

Between now and then, regions need to be working towards providing the relevant material required. First up boundaries of a region need to be defined. In many cases they will broadly match political boundaries. Neighbouring regions need to be working together to ensure there is no conflict of interest in terms of those boundaries. And it is important that room to grow is factored in. In other words, don't use the current vineyard plantings as your GI boundary.

"Defining a GI boundary is not like doing a vineyard survey. It is not about drawing a map of where today's vineyards are. Instead we are identifying the regions where we grow grapes, or where we might want to grow grapes in the future, that will be part of the same New Zealand wine story."

Each GI application will need to provide evidence of the particular qualities, reputation and character aspects of the wine from that region. Descriptions of production levels, distinctive profiles, wine styles, history of wine making practices, industry structure, along with the physical attributes of soil, climate and geography. So there is a lot of information that needs to be sought prior to the application being filled in. Clarke says regions should begin preparing for this now.
"But time is on our side and many of the regions already have a lot of this information and are using it to tell their story. Plus NZW is here to help."

With at least seven months to go, he says NZW are working on preparing an application example that will provide regions with the tools to fill their own applications out. That should be available early 2016.

In the meantime NZW will be considering a list of 29 priority GIs drawn up in 2008, to produce an updated list, whose application fees will be paid by NZW.

"Obviously we don't have the resources to assist with every single region or sub region in the country. So our plan is to focus on the GIs that are most used and for which the cost and effort of the registration is likely to have the greatest benefit in our markets."

He says NZW wants to ensure that each winery, no matter where they are in New Zealand, has the protection of at least one stand alone Geographical Indication that they can use on their wine.