Manchego row blocks Mexico-eu trade deal

IN ONE corner, strong-tasting cured manchego sheep’s cheese from central Spain; in the other, a softer cow’s milk product from Mexico, also called manchego, but used to stuff quesadillas, rather than accompany a glass of Rioja.

Spanish cheesemakers’ demands that this “chalk and cheese” row over what constitutes the real thing be remedied by law is holding up progress as the European Union negotiates a new trade deal with Mexico.

The EU wants the exclusive labelling of products such as wines and cheeses, including manchego, produced since Roman times in the La Mancha area.

“If you make a drink called Scottish whisky, it is because it is distilled in Scotland, and not Wales or anywhere else. It would be absurd for Mexicans to sell whisky made in Cuernavaca or Monterrey. This is just the same,” said Ismael Álvarez de Toledo, president of the Spanish Brotherhood of Manchego Cheese. The Mexican dairy sector argues that consumers can distinguish the two, even though both are marketed under the same name.