The EU Commission has announced a delay in the adoption of its reforms to winemaking regulations, including the controversial allowance for table rosés to be made from mixing whites with reds, after the World Trade Organization requested more time to scrutinize the changes.

Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer-Boel said the delay was strictly to allow the WTO longer consultation, and dismissed a suggestion by French agriculture minister Michel Barnier, who is opposed to the new rosé rules, that it allowed ‘time for dialogue’.

‘She told him in a phone call on Monday that she will not reopen the package on winemaking practices,’ Commission spokesman Johan Reyniers told decanter.com.

Written by Graham Tearse

Graham Tearse
Graham Tearse
Decanter, Wine Journalist

Graham Tearse is a Scottish journalist who is based in Paris. He is the editor and coordinator at Mediapart, an independent French online news an opinion journal. In addition, he works as a freelancer, mainly reporting on French news for UK outlets, including The Guardian, Decanter and the British Film Institute.