There are fresh hopes Australian winemakers can finally win their battle to retain the right to use the term Prosecco.

Australian Trade Minister Don Farrell is seeking to restart Free Trade Agreement negotiations with the European Union for products including Prosecco.

Farrell spoke to EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic this week, who proposed moving towards reopening talks during an hour-long video meeting on Wednesday evening, two years after negotiations collapsed.

Australia wants greater trade access for beef, lamb, sugar, cheese and rice exports into the EU, while Europe wants Australian producers to give up the use of terms such as prosecco, mozzarella, feta and parmesan. The EU claims they are geographical indicators and their use should be restricted to products originating from the specific regions. 

European Commission trade spokesperson Olof Gill told the Sydney Morning Herald the discussions were “positive and constructive” and came about at Australia’s request.

“They discussed a possible timeline and the broader context for revisiting EU-AU FTA negotiations and bringing them across the finish line,” Gill said.

“As the commissioner said earlier this week … we are committed to diversifying our trade through new FTAs.”

Farrell said the meeting was “warm and constructive”.

“We have agreed to resume talks face to face as soon as we can after the election,” he said.

“The world has changed in a very short period of time, and they seem very genuine to get back to discussions and reach an agreement.”

Farrell is scheduled to speak on Wednesday night to European Union Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic. FTA negotiations between Australia and the EU collapsed in October 2023.

Australia’s Prosecco industry is currently worth over $205 million and the proposal would have prevented local producers from using the name to market their sparkling wines.

“The indications are the Europeans want an agreement. The stars have aligned,” Farrell told the Australian Financial Review.

“The world has changed since our last negotiations 18 months ago. Why wouldn’t we want to do a deal with them?”

Independent Federal Member for Indi Helen Haines said it is vital Australia wins its Prosecco battle with Europe. :

“Some 60% of Australia’s prosecco is grown in Indi [in Victoria’s North East], an industry which was under threat in the proposal put forward by the European Union in the last round of negotiations,” she said.

“I fought tooth and nail together with our local winemakers for them to retain the ability to use the name Prosecco and the government was right to walk away from the deal at that time.

“What was on the table in 2023 did not represent a good deal or fair trade for Australian winemakers.

“With this renewed opportunity, I encourage the Trade Minister Don Farrell to negotiate in the bests interest of our Prosecco growers and winemakers.”

“It is better to have no deal than to sign up to a bad deal for Australia. A deal that sells out Prosecco is a bad deal for Australia.”