Prosecco makers popping corks as free trade deal struck

Grace Crivellaro | March 25, 2026

Prosecco producers are “popping corks” in celebration of a long-awaited free trade deal that slashes tariffs on key goods, but it has drawn fierce backlash from farmers.

After almost a decade of negotiations, Australia and the European Union have struck an agreement that will expand trade across a range of areas.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen travelled to Canberra to sign the agreement alongside Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, saying on Tuesday it was a fair deal “that delivers for your businesses and one that delivers for ours”.

Australia will remove a five per cent tariff on imports of European products, which hits car makers such as BMW and Mercedes along with producers of goods such as fashion products, food and drinks.

EU tariffs will be removed on imports of a wide range of Australian goods, including critical minerals, manufactured items and many dairy products.

Despite pressure from European winemakers, Australian producers will be allowed to keep using the term “prosecco” for domestic sales, but they will have to phase out the term over the next decade for exports.

Katherine Brown, a fourth-generation winemaker with Brown Brothers, said she would be “popping corks and celebrating” after years of anxiously waiting for negotiations to finalise. 

“It’s fantastic that we’ve been told the prosecco name for that grape variety will retain domestically in Australia,” she told AAP. 

“The name will phase out for export markets, but 95 per cent of Australian prosecco is drunk in Australia anyway, so we have to look at this as a major win.”

Ms Brown said the deal gave Australian prosecco a future as growers were hesitant to plant the grape during prolonged negotiations which “left the industry in limbo”.

“It now gives us a really strong stance to put further investment into it, put in more prosecco vineyards and keep enjoying this amazing drop,” she said. 

“The fact we got to retain the name in Australia is the main part of the fight we’ve been fighting.”

Domestic manufacturers will retain the rights to describe their products as parmesan and kransky, but other cheese names such as feta, romano and gruyere will eventually be phased out.

Farmers and rice growers are among those left furious by the agreement, with some saying it delivers no commercially meaningful market access despite an increase in quotas. 

After years of pushing for expanded export quotas, the nation’s red meat industry denounced the deal, labelling it the worst free trade agreement the nation had signed.

Market access for an additional 30,600 tonnes of beef and 25,000 tonnes of sheep meat per year fell far below the minimum amounts offered to competitor nations such as New Zealand.

Sheep Producers Australia chief executive Bonnie Skinner said the deal, for sheep meat, is largely unchanged from the one Australia rejected in 2023.

“The increase in access is small and critically, it does not unlock real commercial opportunities,” she said. 

“For a premium market like the EU, this falls short of what was needed.”

An additional 8500 tonnes of rice was granted, which has left SunRice Group chief executive Paul Serra “incredibly disappointed”.

He said Australian rice growers “are already facing mounting pressures from water buybacks and continued dry conditions in southern NSW”. 

“The government’s failure to deliver meaningful EU market access for Australian rice is a significant shortfall in the FTA,” he said.