Argentine and Chilean wineries clash over the Patagonia brand

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The conflict of interests between Argentine wineries that produce wines in the south of the country and foreign wineries that want to use the Patagonia brand on their labels, added a new episode. This time there was an open confrontation between the companies, after the Chamber of Exporting Wineries of Patagonia Argentina pointed directly against the Chilean winery Concha y Toro.

“It has been working tirelessly for some time now to prevent various companies, including two large global companies such as Viña Concha y Toro of Chile and Patagonia Inc. and its subsidiary Patagonia Provisions of the United States, from registering and using the Patagonia trademark on wines in different markets,” said winemaker Rubén Patritti, president of the Chamber. He did so through a statement issued after a meeting held with the Minister of Agriculture, Julián Domínguez, where the official promised official support to back the claim of the national producers.

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The mention with name and surname included in the Chamber’s communiqué lit the fuse of a controversy that had been developing in a hidden way. Last week, in a Zoom meeting between Patagonian winemakers and Concha y Toro executives, the discussion reached the highest level of tension. It was when the Chileans were inflexible in their will to use the Patagonia label on their wines, arguing that the laws of their country allowed it, among other arguments, according to what one of the participants of the virtual meeting revealed to Ámbito.

Yesterday, Concha y Toro responded to the complaint through a statement: “The company holds the title of the Patagonia trademark in different jurisdictions, without prejudice to the rights that third parties may have subsequently constituted with respect to the expression Patagonia”, it stated, in line with what they had stated in the Zoom discussion.

And from this position, it stated that “they have always maintained a spirit of good faith, dialogue and openness, not only with the wineries that make the claim, but also with any private or public institution that so requires, within a framework of mutual respect; consequently, they reiterate their total willingness to dialogue”.

The winemakers in the south of the country have a very different view. “Patagonia is a Geographical Indication recognized by Argentine legislation, and that only wine originating there should be considered as such,” Patritti remarked.

“The commercial use of the brand by third parties would put Argentine wineries operating in the south of the country in an unfavorable commercial situation,” he added.

And he made it clear that “no private party (Argentine or foreign) can legitimately appropriate a concept that only corresponds to the region’s products and is part of the cultural and geographical heritage”.

The Geographical Indication (GI) Patagonia was recognized by the INV under Law 25,163, and has been protected since 2002, although it was only put into practice since 2014. Recently, the INV ratified the validity of this standard for the production of wines in the provinces of La Pampa, Neuquén, Río Negro and Chubut, where about 45 wineries are located.