Hotel heiress Paris Hilton provocatively dressed in a leopard print skimpy outfit and showing off his legs bare is not an image Italian winemakers feel is good for their Prosecco sparkling white.Yet Hilton, in high heels various stages of undress, graces ads for Rich Prosecco, an Austrian buds sale in 27 countries. Worse, in the eyes of the producers of Prosecco, Rich Prosecco also comes in cans and two varieties of fruit.
"Hilton hotels are a sign of quality; Paris Hilton is not," said Fulvio Brunetta, president of the association of winemakers from Treviso, northern Italian city of the Veneto region where Prosecco is made.
Paris Hilton, the symbol privilege of celebrity in America, gained notoriety in 2003 when a video of her home having sex with a boyfriend was posted on the Internet.
She parlayed her notoriety, fueled by tabloid headlines about celebrates its lifestyle, in a career that has included celebrity reality television, a book and film roles.
Last year, she spent more than three weeks in jail for violating probation in a case of drunk driving.
"Paris Hilton is sensational. This is not good. It is not adequate for Prosecco, "Brunetta said.
The association provides two meetings next week to decide how to protect the name of Prosecco and to ensure that any company selling Prosecco is actually using wine made from the region Treviso.
"Without stricter rules, Rich Prosecco or another company could sell Prosecco made in Brazil or elsewhere," said Brunetta.
This is not going to stop Rich Prosecco, which is why it gets its wine from Treviso.
"We are following exactly European laws, which are very strict, especially with regard to wine," said Rich Prosecco chief executive and owner Aloys Gunther, who founded the company in 2006 in the Austrian ski resort of 'Ischgl.
To respect the laws of wine, Rich Prosecco two varieties of fruit, with a low alcohol and called Rich and Rich Passion royale, are not labelled Prosecco.
Last year, Rich Prosecco sold 10 million cans, mainly in Germany but also in China, India and South Korea, for about 2 euros (about $ 3) a can.
The company reflects the rapid growth of the rising Prosecco region, which last year produced 50 million bottles, up 14 percent from 2005, and is increasingly on exports to Canada and the United States, although the Germans remain the top foreign buyers.
The wine growers are concerned that their Rich Prosecco wine can give the impression of a cheap fruit drink.
And then there are the cans, announced by Paris Hilton, naked and painted gold in an announcement reminiscent of the James Bond film Goldfinger.
"In the United States and Australia, they toast with beer bottles," said Brunetta. "It's their culture. The culture of Prosecco is a reunion of friends around a good bottle. "
Rich's Prosecco Aloys said it helps to create the world-renowned wine and does not understand all the fuss.
"It's as if someone Champagne oppose the sale of champagne we cans with Kate Moss, for example. It's just marketing and Paris Hilton is the most famous girl in the world."
Last year, Paris Hilton Barron's grandfather said he would give 97 percent of its $ 2.3 billion fortune to charity.
Jerry Oppenheimer, which has profiled the Hilton family in his 2006 book "House of Hilton," said Barron Hilton is embarrassed by the behavior of her granddaughter Paris Hilton and esteem he has sullied the name family.
Barron Hilton did not comment on the book.
