Trier, Germany - A German law court ruled Monday that sparkling wine produced in Germany from Italian prosecco grapes can be labelled as "Italian".

If the basic wine is imported from Italy into Germany bearing the label IGT, (Indicazione Geographica Tipica) denoting the place of origin, this notation still applies after it has been processed into sparkling wine on German soil, the administrative court in Trier ruled.

The decisive factor was where the unprocessed wine originated from, and not where the sparkling wine was made, the court argued.

The ruling enables two Trier-based wine cellars to continue producing and selling sparkling wine classified as "Vino frizzante IGT," since it is manufactured from wine imported from Italy.

The two producers had been barred by the Rhineland-Palatinate state wine inspector, who had argued that IGT was a geographical label of origin and could not apply to products made outside the country of origin.

The ruling was based on European Union (EU) law which says sparkling wines produced in the EU are allowed to carry a reference to their geographic origin.

Since the quality of the final product depended in part on the original wine used, the court deemed it appropriate to apply the geographical designation to the origin of the unprocessed wine. (dpa)