When Is a Wine Not a Wine? When European Regulations Say It's Not TENTERDEN, ENGLAND - Poured from the bottle, the ruby-colored liquid looks like wine. Swirled around a glass, it smells like wine. Sure enough, it tastes like wine, too. But, at least within the confines of the European Union, the closest it may come to be being called wine is "fruit-based alcoholic beverage." The ruling is bad news for the Chapel Down Winery, which crushed more than two tons of refrigerated Malbec grapes that had been air-freighted from Mendoza, Argentina, hoping to produce an English take on the fabled Latin American wine. The fruit was brought here, in the lush, gentle countryside of Kent, to an estate covering 68 acres, or 28 hectares, one third of which is now covered with vines. In the winery, the juice was processed, using English equipment and techniques, and then aged for nine months in American oak barrels. Only when it came time to bottle did Frazer Thompson, chief executive of Chapel Down, learn from officials that he had breached regulations that ban the use of grapes or grape products from outside the European Union to make wine inside it. The rule is intended to maintain the integrity and quality of wine and, for example, prevent producers from importing large quantities of must, or grape juice, from warmer climes and blending it with European grapes. That left Mr. Thompson with something of a dilemma. Call the 1,350 bottles something like "fruit-based alcoholic beverage," or not market and sell them at all. "Calling it "Chapel Down Malbec, made from Argentinian grapes" is illegal," Mr. Thompson said. It is not just debatable, it is illegal. For decades, European wine regulations have provoked controversy across the tier of southern nations that produce the bulk of production. In many regions disputes have intensified as centuries of wine-making tradition battle the harsh reality of global competition against commercially produced New World exports. The front line of the struggle is France, where producers prize the individual taste of each wine as the product of a specific piece of land, or terroir. Most high-quality French wine is identified by its place of origin, rather than by the grape variety. Output from specific regions remains strongly protected. Spanish or English sparkling wine cannot, for example, be sold as Champagne, which is produced only in France. Emotions are so strong that in 2009 European officials gave up on proposals to allow makers of rosé to abandon traditional methods and make it by blending red and white wine. Mr. Thompson, a former senior executive with Heineken, says the labeling rules remain arcane and, to many, incomprehensible. "By comparison to beer, whisky or gin, it is complex and not understood by the consumer," he said. More than that, he argues, the rules stifle innovation, particularly in regions like Britain where the wine industry is relatively young but quickly expanding. Though still only a fraction of the size of the industry of France, Britain has a growing reputation for its white and sparkling wines. Output varies from year to year, due to weather conditions, but in 2010, more than four million bottles were produced from grapes grown on 404 vineyards, according to English Wine Producers, a marketing organization for the industry. Chapel Down itself now turns out about 500,000 bottles a year. "The most important thing I have is my brand," Mr. Thompson said. If I may be willing to risk that, I don't need a man with a clipboard to tell me what I shouldn't do. The current regulations, he ventured, would, for instance, allow him to import Argentine grapes into Morocco, produce the wine there, and then import it into Britain. But they will not allow him to make it here. The Argentine body that helped organize the experiment in Anglo-Argentine wine to promote Malbec was equally disappointed with the ruling. "We wanted an English take on an Argentinian Malbec," said Andrew Maidment, Europe director of Wines of Argentina, a trade group that promotes Argentine wine. You can only do that by giving it to a winemaker in their winery. Mr. Maidment accepts that there is a reason for the regulation but thinks there should be leeway in cases like Chapel Down. The partnership, he noted, happened to coincide with the anniversary of the Falklands War and was a good example of new Anglo-Argentine cooperation. "Everyone at Wines of Argentina and in the wine industry was happy that it shows that there are a lot of areas between the two countries where we collaborate and work together," he said. That argument did not impress local officials who enforce E.U. regulations. "Rules governing the sale and marketing of wine in the E.U. are harmonized across all member states," the Food Standards Agency, which oversees wine rules, said in a statement. The way the wine was produced, it made clear, had violated those rules. "Although the E.U. rules would not allow it to be marketed, it could be used promotionally for tasting at wine fairs, etc.," it added. In effect, that is what Mr. Thomspon decided to do. Instead of selling the product, he has elected to use most of it in wine-tasting events, giving the rest to trade partners, employees, wine critics and charities, he said. The agency said it had not suggested calling the product a "fruit-based alcoholic beverage," although it confirmed that it could be marketed under that name, provided that it was not sold alongside wines in supermarkets and other stores. But even that, Mr. Thompson said, could open a whole different range of legal issues over what level of tax and duty should apply. "The last thing I need is to fight a legal writ from people who might want to put a stop to the product, " he said.