A proposal by Francis Geoffrey Jacobs, chief judge of the European Court, favors Hungarian winemakers, who clashed with their Italian counterparts over the use of the Italian Tocai and the Hungarian Tokaji wine types.

The Hungarian reasoning said the name of Tokaji wines (meaning “from Tokaj,” a northeast Hungarian town) denotes a region, whereas the Italian Tocai name indicates the type of grape wine is made from.

The dispute started after Hungary made an agreement with the EU over wines in 1993. The agreement – observing the long standing tradition and world fame of Hungary’s special sweet Tokaji wines – said Italy will have to ban the use of the Tocai name by its winemakers after Hungary joins the Union, or by 2007 the latest.

Thus Jacobs’s proposal leaves in place Italian laws that banned the use of Tocai names on Italian wine labels. A Reuters report pointed out that courts are not obliged, but only recommended to follow the chief judge’s proposals.

Piero Pittaro, Honorary President of the World Federation of Italian Winemakers, said the proposal is a serious blow for Italian winemakers. He added that Italy should have placed the name dispute on grounds of geographical regions, as French winemakers did in similar disputes successfully.