Slovenia has requested to see the documents submitted by Croatia with which the country is challenging Slovenia's protection of origin so it could provide better arguments to support its case.

Slovenia protected Teran in 2000, with the wine becoming a protected product at EU level in 2004, after the country joined the bloc. In 2013 it secured a ban on the sale of Croatian Teran in stores across the EU.

Croatia claims that Teran is a wine native to the entire Istria region, with Croatian as well as Italian wineries entitled to sell it under that name, but Slovenia maintains that conditions specific to the region of Kras mean that the registered wine can only be produced there.

In an effort to find a solution, the European Commission called on Slovenia to provide some additional documents to support its claim a while ago, but the country first wanted to know what Croatia's claims were.

"We can only answer certain questions, if we are familiar with the documents the questions are based on," Židan told reporters in Brussels in November.

Yesterday he got an assurance from European Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan that the documents would be delivered to Slovenia.

"We see the fact that the commissioner, the Commission decided to give us access to the documents as a very positive step," the minister pointed out.

He also hinted at a possible positive effect of the November agreement between Slovenia and Italy under which Slovenia expressed readiness to share its exclusive rights to Teran with neighbouring Italy, to which the plateau of the Kras region stretches.

The two countries agreed to look into legal options for including 40 hectares of the plateau on the Italian side in Slovenia's label of protected origin.

Židan said yesterday he had recently also received support for Slovenia's case from Austrian officials.