Wine made in Sussex has been given a similar status to that produced in the Champagne and Rioja regions of France and Spain.
The southern English county has been designated as a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) for wine by the environment secretary.
It means bottles of vino with the Sussex label must hail from the county, be made according to local tradition, and be aged by two years.
A similar status has been given to Cornish clotted cream and Stilton cheese, for example.
Sussex is the UK's largest producer of wine, making more than a quarter of it.
Sussex wine now has a special designation (Sky News)
Second-generation farmer Art Tukker owns the Tinwood Estate in Chichester and is delighted by the PDO.
"We're going to be seeing a glass of Sussex available in New York, Tokyo, Los Angeles, maybe even Paris, but I'm not sure the Champagne guys will like that so much," he told Sky News.
A winemaker in neighbouring Kent has dismissed the development as a "marketing exercise".
Graham Barbour, founder and owner of Woodchurch Wine Estate on the Kent-Sussex Border, said the soil in Kent vineyards can be similar to that in Sussex.
In addition, warmer temperatures from climate change will benefit the British wine industry as a whole, he said, and so to distinguish one area from another is "arbitrary".
Mr Barbour told Sky News: "I just don't think it's particularly useful or helpful to make out it's got some unique property or quality about it."
He added: "It could be anywhere in Southern England."
Sky News (c)
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