Protected designation 'Superior' on a German wine label?

The designation 'Superior' is a term protected for certain wines in Portugal and Spain with standardised product specifications. The State Examination Office Rhineland-Palatinate (Landesuntersuchungsamt Rheinland-Pfalz) subsequently prohibited a German winemaker from designating his wine on the label with 'Superior' as this would violate European wine law and be misleading.

A German winemaker used the designation 'Superior' on the label of one of his finest wines and thereby drew the attention of the State Examination Office Rhineland-Palatinate (Landesuntersuchungsamt Rheinland-Pfalz).

The office took the view that the term 'Superior' was protected for certain wines from Portugal and Spain. The label 'Superior' may only be used for products that comply with the specified product specifications. These precluded the use of the designation 'Superior' for German wines.

The winemaker argued, by contrast, that the designation 'Superior' was used for historical reasons, as the 'Brother or Father Superior' designates the head of a Christian religious community. The winemaker had been connected with the history of a Benedictine abbey for over 1,000 years. Therefore, 'Superior' was an appropriate designation for the winemaker's finest wine.

Decision of the court

The Higher Administrative Court Rhineland-Palatinate (Oberverwaltungsgericht Rheinland-Pfalz) confirmed by judgment of 10.09.2015 – Az. 8 A 10345/15.OVG – the decision of the first instance and allowed the winemaker's action against the prohibition.

The judges found no violation of the European legal provisions on the protection of traditional terms in wine law in the use of the designation 'Superior', since the designation 'Superior' for wines is only protected in Portuguese and Spanish language. The reason for this is that a traditional term is based on a local tradition and has a meaning that is only expressed in the registered original language. Only because of the language in which it is protected is the traditional term unique and distinguishable.

The German winemaker, however, used the term 'Superior' for a German wine in the German language and thus did not infringe it. This is because the label is inscribed entirely in the German language.

The designation of the wines with 'Superior' was also not false or misleading, since the designation 'Superior' would not create in the average consumer the misconception that the wine met the product specifications of the Spanish and Portuguese 'Superior' wines.

Conclusion

Protected designations for foodstuffs of certain regions and countries are not comprehensively protected, but only in the languages which were cited in the protection application for traditional terms. This could only be assessed differently if the use of the protected term were misleading and thus contrary to competition law.