The European Union has finally clamped down on Australian winemakers using the names of regions to market their products, here and overseas.

It has given an ultimatum that the names must disappear from Australian labels within a year.

More than a decade ago, European winemakers had complained about Australian ''champagne'' but no deadline was set for the removal of the name. Despite that oversight, one rarely sees the labels of Australian bubbly using the term nowadays.

An agreement signed in Brussels on Monday confirmed Australia would end the ''misuse'' of terms such as champagne, port and burgundy, which are tied to geographical locations in Europe. Other contentious names include chablis, graves, manzanilla, marsala, moselle, sauterne, and white burgundy.

Although they will be phased out within one year, Australian winemakers have been given another decade of tasting and sniffing to find another name for tokay, a region of Hungary. Port will be marketed as ruby, cream, tawny and vintage, but the new term for sherry has not been revealed.

The motivation for the deal comes from European producers who have been increasingly pushed off supermarket shelves by Australian wines, which are often cheaper, carry better labelling and bold flavours with mass-market appeal.

Foreign Minister Stephen Smith, who signed the agreement, said it would give Australian wines better access to the world's biggest wine consumer market.

''It is a terrific market to break into, we don't put any limits on how far we can go,'' he said.

Australia exports $1.4 billion of wine to Europe, primarily to Britain, but increasingly into continental markets traditionally dominated by French wines. The exports increased by almost 75per cent between 2000 and 2006, at the cost of European mass-market producers.

Winemakers Federation of Australia chief executive Stephen Strachan said the agreement would bring a number of important benefits to the Australian wine industry, including the recognition of all existing winemaking techniques used in Australian production and a simplified procedure to authorise the approval of new winemaking techniques.