Agriculture Minister Dejan Židan said in Brussels on Monday that Slovenia and Italy agreed that Teran could be produced only on the plateau of the Kras region which stretches into Italy.

The two countries are therefore setting up a working group which will look into legal options for including 40 hectares of the plateau on the Italian side in Slovenia's label of protected origin.

In Slovenia, the wine is being produced on 450-600 hectares, the minister noted.

Slovenia protected Teran as a Slovenian product in 2000, with the wine becoming a protected product at EU level in 2004, after Slovenia joined the bloc.

In 2013 it secured a ban on the sale of Croatian Teran in stores across the EU.

Croatia claims 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 Kras mean that the registered wine can only be produced there.

Židan also discussed the Teran issue today with Vice President of the European Commission Frans Timmermans.