KOCHI: After losing the fight for the geographical indication of ‘Pisco’ to Peru a few months ago, Chile is applying for a fresh GI registration of ‘Chilean Pisco’ with the GI Registry at Chennai. Pisco is a brandy made from grape in Chile and Peru and both the countries had been engaged in more than a decade-long fight for the GI tag ‘Pisco’ in India and finally, in 2019, the country’s Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) had accepted Peru’s claim that Pisco had originated there. Peru had supported its claim by the argument that Pisco is named after the South-Eastern Peruvian city of Pisco.
Following this, the Asociacion De Productores De PISCO A.G. – the association of producers of Pisco – filed a GI application for Chilean Pisco last month. “The Chilean Pisco is a Chilean ancestral product that forms a part of the gastronomic heritage of the country,” the association said in its statement of the case. According to it, this brandy is produced only in Atacama and Coquimbo regions of the country and that it is distilled from either of the 13 varieties of grapes, mainly the aromatic Moscatel ones. Throughout the year, grapes are grown in 10,000 hectares of vineyards by 2,000 small producers.
But how old is the drink? “Chilean Pisco was first documented in 1733 in an inventory of assets taken by a notary of the Spanish Empire at Elqui Valley in a place called ‘Pisco Elqui’ located 100 km east of the city of La Serena at the foothills of Andes Mountains,” the statement says.
Chilean Pisco comes in two colours – the colourless one coming from grapes that do not undergo an ageing process and the yellowish-to-amber coloured ones stored in French or American oak casks. By nature, it is a strong brandy and its alcohol content varies from 30% in the regular Pisco Corriente to 43% in the grander Gran Pisco.
In exports, Peru has an upper hand over Chile – during 2016, Peru’s Pisco exports amounted US$8 million, while that of Chile was US$ 2.9 million, say media reports. With Pisco gaining significant commercial importance, both Chile and Peru had been fiercely protecting it by registering it with various free-trade agreements the respective countries enter into. While the EU, Mexico, Singapore, Turkey and New Zealand allowed Chile to sell their product as ‘Pisco’ in their markets, countries like US, Australia, Japan and Canada have given permission for the tag ‘Chilean Pisco’.
According to the Asociacion De Productores De PISCO, currently, there are 16 companies involved in its production – between them they market 14 brands both in Chilean and overseas markets. The Chilean application is in the pre-examination status with the GI Registry at Chennai.
As India is a potential market for delicacies, the foreign associations are registering their own products with the Indian GI Registry also – some of such products already given GI tag here being the Scotch whisky (UK), champagne, cognac (France), Parma’s ham, Parmesan cheese and Asiago (Italy).