EU court adviser puts cork in Aldi sorbet

It was only a one-time promotion, but using the name Champagne to give its Christmas sorbet a bit of fizz has given discount supermarket chain Aldi a five-year legal hangover.

Aldi may have gone too far in 2012 when it decided to sell the icy dessert laced with a 12 percent shot of the sparkling wine as “Champagner Sorbet” in Germany, an adviser to the European Union’s highest court said in a nonbinding opinion Thursday.

The label on the sorbet packaging shows “a cork with the wire used to attach it to the bottle, a half-full glass and a beverage, probably Champagne,” said Manuel Campos Sanchez-Bordona, an advocate general at the EU Court of Justice. “In the background, clearly visible, is a bottle of the French bubbly. I don’t think that the significance of these elements can be ignored.”

Aldi representatives didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.