The Waldhorn distillery is accused of branding one of its whiskies with a Scottish-sounding name

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Under EU rules on protected regional labels, ’Scotch Whisky’ can only be sold in the bloc if it is made in Scotland. The ‘Glen Buchenbach’ whisky produced by the Waldhorn distillery is distilled near the German city of Stuttgart. Glen Buchenbach sells on the distillery’s website for £43.58 (€49.50) for a 500ml bottle and is clearly labelled as made in Germany. But The Scotch Whisky Association has argued the use of the Gaelic term ‘glen’, which translates to valley, could mislead consumers into thinking they were buying a genuine Scottish product.

The Scottish industry accounts for a massive 20 percent of British food and drink exports and is worth some £4billion every year. The European Court of Justice (ECJ) was asked to intervene on the issue after the case was referred there by a court in Hamburg. But Europe’s top court today opted not to make a ruling and instead chose to send the original complaint from the Scots back to German judges. The ECJ said it was up to the national court to determine whether the word ‘glen’ would lead “an average European consumer” to directly think of Scotch Whisky.

The Glen Buchenbach whisky is produced in Germany but uses the Gaelic word 'glen' on the bottle

And the ruling stressed that it was not enough for the word ‘glen’ to evoke some kind of association with Scotland, and for the branding to break EU rules, it must actually bring to mind Scotch whisky. The ECJ added it did not matter that the label said the product was made in Germany. The Waldhorn distillery, run by Michael Klotz, has previously argued the label clearly states the whisky is made in Swabia, a historical name for the Black Forest area of Germany.

To comply with EU rules, Scotch Whisky can only be produced in Scotland