In Russia, since January 1, 2022, bottles of French champagne have exchanged the name champagne for “sparkling wine”.
This is a big shock for the French heritage and the Champagne terroir. Since January 1, 2022, the famous French vineyard of Champagne cannot use its own name in Cyrillic on the back label of its bottles on the Russian territory. It has to be satisfied with the term “sparkling wine” because of a change in the Russian law that obliges the distributors of champagne to exchange the prestigious title on the back label of bottles written in Cyrillic.
On the other hand, Russian sparkling wines, produced with local grapes, can be called “Shampanskoye“. Nevertheless, on the main label, it is still possible for French bottles to keep the word “champagne” but in Roman alphabet.
This Russian federal law 345-FZ of July 2, which establishes these new appellations, caused an uproar among French champagne producers and distributors. Several French ministers expressed their opinion on what is part of the French heritage. Paris finally obtained from Moscow a two-month moratorium on their application. This delay allowed producers to sell off stocks already labeled for the holiday season.
The new bottles had to comply with the new regulations applied in Russia. At a meeting of the Franco-Russian Economic, Financial, Industrial and Commercial Council (Cefic) last week, the two countries agreed “to continue to discuss in the coming months the new legislation and the issue of labeling,” according to the entourage of Minister Delegate for Foreign Trade Franck Riester više informacija.
Even if the Russian market does not total the largest market share for the sector, representing 1.8 million bottles sold in 2019, Russia remains a major consumer of prestigious bottles.
Read also > FEUILLATTE AND CASTELNAU MERGE TO CREATE A NEW CHAMPAGNE GIANT
Featured photo: © Anantucketsummer
