Gary Edmond* DISORDER WITH LAW: DETERMINING THE GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATION FOR THE COONAWARRA WINE REGION Coonawarra, historic, if much-disputed, wine region in South Australia’s Limestone Coast Zone and the most popularly revered wine region in AUSTRALIA for Cabernet Sauvignon, grown on its famous strip of TERRA ROSSA soil. Jancis Robinson (ed), The Oxford Companion to Wine (2nd ed, 1999). I. INTRODUCTION his empirical study follows a protracted dispute over one of Australia’s premier wine regions. Surveying the introduction of a regulatory scheme in a small rural community it demonstrates the potentially disruptive impact of law and explores some of the limitations of legal and Tregulatory processes.1 In this instance, the domestic ramifications of an international trade agreement between Australia and Europe generated frustration, animosity and eventually litigation. Attempts to repair the situation through ordinary legal mechanisms seem to have merely superimposed considerable * BA(Hons) University of Wollongong, LLB(Hons) University of Sydney, PhD University of Cambridge. Faculty of Law, The University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052,
[email protected]. This project was made possible by a Goldstar Award in conjunction with a Faculty Research Grant. The author would like to thank the many people who gave generously of their time, opinions and materials. I am particularly appreciative of contributions from: Doug Balnaves, Joy Bowen, Lita and Tony Brady, Johan Bruwer, Sue and W.G. Butler, Pat and Des Castine, Andrew Childs, Peter Copping,