Champagne makers fume over Russian ‘sparkling wine’ law
PARIS (Reuters) – France’s champagne industry group blasted on Monday a new Russian law forcing foreign champagne producers to add a “sparkling wine” reference to the back of their bottles.
The Comité Champagne said it was also calling on French and European Union diplomats to get the law changed.
The law, signed by President Vladimir Putin on Friday, requires foreign producers of sparkling wine to describe their product as such on the back label – though not on the front.
Makers of Russian “shampanskoye” may continue to use that term alone.
Co-presidents of the French Champagne group Maxime Toubart and Jean-Marie Barillere called on its members to halt all shipments to Russia for the time being. They said the Champagne name, which refers to the region in France where Champagne comes from, had legal protection in 120 countries.
“The Champagne Committee deplores the fact that this legislation does not ensure that Russian
consumers have clear and transparent information about the origins and characteristics of wine,” it said, adding that the law undermined two decades of talks between Russia and the EU.
Abrau-Durso president Pavel
Titov told Radio France Internationale on Saturday his firm does not have sparkling wines that would be called “champagne” in its portfolio and said he hoped the issue would be resolved in favor of global norms and standards.