The Wines and Wine Markets of the New EU States: Management Briefing

The addition of six new wine-producing countries to the EU in May 2004 may have added to the rich diversity and heritage of the European Union’s wine industry, but one thing the European Union already had in abundance was wine, and a rich variety of it too.

While potentially opening up new commercial vistas for the wine industries in these developing markets, accession also made these countries subject to strict EU regulations on vineyard expansion and of course agricultural subsidy.

At the same time, it fully opened up their domestic markets to free market competition.

This briefing looks at the six accession countries which have significant wine production - Cyprus, Czech Republic, Hungary, Malta, Slovakia and Slovenia - examining their winemaking history and culture, their production and commercial structures, and the impact of EU membership on their respective wine industries.