I'd like to have members of Panel please step up. I believe we're ready. And I'd like to introduce Mr. Randall Lange with the California Association of Winegrape Growers.

MR. LANGE: As he said, my name is Randall Lange, and I'm a third generation winegrape grower in the Lodi Woodbridge district just south of here. I'm currently Chairman of the California Association of Winegrape Growers. And CAWG represents the growers of more than 50 percent of the annual tonnage of grapes crushed for wine and for concentrate.

I want to thank you for the opportunity for these listening sessions. Developing export markets for the California wine is critical to the long-term health of our industry, and I'm happy to have these three minutes to make a couple of key points on behalf of winegrape growers and the fourth generation of winegrape growers that I currently have in college.

For the last few years, CAWG has worked closely with the Wine Institute and the American Vintners Association to develop a unified position on international trade for wine. Wine is the ultimate value-added product. As our plantings of wine grapes increases, the opportunity to expand the market for wine is critical.

We are concerned about tariff and non-tariff barriers that hinder our ability to trade openly in foreign markets and that curb the demand for our products. In past negotiations, wine has suffered for the benefit of other industries. We ask that this round the discussion of tariff is specific to wine for wine.

We request that the U.S. make wine tariffs a priority and that the U.S. seek reductions in wine tariffs to a level equivalent to the United States' 6.3 cents per liter.

Second, we face trade distorting subsidies that put growers at immediate competitive disadvantage. The EU program to subsidize its wine industry provides an unfair market advantage for its producers. Despite the fact that the EU wine production is stronger than ever, the Commission has increased the 1998 budget for the wine sector to over $1.3 billion. This is unnecessary for an industry that already controls well over 65 percent of the export market.

These subsidies invite continued production despite diminishing demand, increased capital resources to European wineries through subsidies to elude the market and they need to end.

Finally, the integrity of wine labels is another problem for winegrape growers in California. Not all countries have a regulatory system in place to monitor compliance in the wine-making industry to prevent mislabeling and consumer fraud. Labels on imported wine may not always accurately reflect the contents with regard to variety or origin. The potential for abuse in mislabeling becomes more probable as countries develop a wine industry for the world market and recognize the demand for certain varietal wine products.

Trade agreements should include detailed provisions to prevent this type of fraud and unfair competitive advantage. U.S. wine exports account for five percent of the world total and we are growing. But unfair policies make it difficult for U.S. wines to compete with European exports both in the United States and in third country markets. We request that the reduction of wine barriers be made a priority for this round of multilateral negotiations.

Only by reducing these barriers to trade can we guarantee fair and equitable market access for our products.

Thank you.