Peru rejects Chile's proposal related to the pisco appellation of origin

By Espinosa Bellido Abogados

The Minister of Production of Peru, Raúl Pérez-Reyes, said that there is no possibility of sharing pisco’s appellation of origin (AO) with Chile. "The appellation of origin is associated with the geographical location and the specific characteristics of the product. Therefore we can not share such recognition because it is associated with our territory: talking of pisco is talking about Peru and Peruvians“, Pérez-Reyes stated on a press release.

Peru was awarded the rights to protect and regulate the production of pisco as an AO in 1991, recognizing the grape brandy made from the distillation of fresh, recently fermented musts of pisco grapes, using traditional production methods in the regions of Ica, Moquegua, Tacna, Arequipa and Lima. Nevertheless there has been a long standing juridical and commercial controversy with Chile discussing the origin of the beverage.

Recently, news outlets reported that the government of Chile proposed to Peru to share pisco’s AO. Pérez-Reyes said the Ministry of Production has not received any official proposal. “There was a meeting between the Minister of Agriculture of Chile and the Minister of Agriculture of Peru where the issue was discussed”, he said.

Since 2009 the consumption of pisco in Peru has been doubled, becoming the third favorite liquor for Peruvians behind beer and wine. In 2018 local sales of pisco were of 2 million liters, a growth of 5% compared to 2017, and authorities expect that such figure will be doubled in four or five years.