It was ironic that I would receive a David Lebovitz blog post called "Champagne, Reims, and Veuve Clicquot" just hours after realizing a faux pas I made on one of my own blog posts. I called a beverage champagne that, in fact, was not champagne at all. I did not know this at the time, as I knew little about the lovely sparkling beverage I had been served. But I should have known, and I could have known, were I not so caught up in the festivities, fun, and self-reflexion and getting too much sun (and wine) too early in the day.
The lovely sparkling wine provided for the Austin Angers Music 2013 festivities was this Bouvet Rosé Excellence produced by Bouvet-Labuday, and available in the US through Kobrand Wines and Spirits.
Of course, a sparkling wine that one may unthinkingly call "champagne" is not truly "champagne," and in fact may technically not be called that at all unless it comes from a specific region in France -- "Champagne," "one of the great historic provinces of France," as this site explains. So what, you might say. Well, so a lot. There are international trade laws on this topic, and the interplay of international and national and EU laws for regional food specialities is well, pretty darn fascinating. And complicated.
My "champagne" error touched on an issue I was (very) lightly researching, on regional laws protecting food as an intellectual property issue. The champagne issue is thick in the middle of this controversial topic in certain circles. Some back story is in order.
Recall a few labels you may have seen on your favorite French wine and you might recall the term "AOC." "AOC" is the shorthand version for a French term (though other countries have similar terms, such as Denominacion de Origen) loaded with legal and cultural consequences in terms of regulating what food or wine may be called what. It is "Appellation d'Origine Controllée." A site for Diplomatie France explains it this way:
The AOC system was initiated in 1935 to safeguard the specificity of products originating in France’s regions, or terroirs. It is administered by the Institut National des Appellations d’Origine (INAO), the national regulating body established at the time. The INAO recommends labels of origin to the French government and drafts all related regulations. It also ensures the labels are controlled and protected, both nationally and internationally, requiring producers to strictly observe the rules they have set themselves to. Beyond indicating a product’s geographic origin, the AOC designation also focuses on specific criteria such as geological, agronomical and climatic factors, as well as indisputable know-how. For example, in order to receive the label of guarantee from its region of origin, the famous Roquefort cheese must meet a series of criteria: specific manufacturing process, the use of milk from sheep raised in the region according to traditional breeding techniques and fed a certain type of forage, in addition of course to specific characteristics (cheese’s colour, appearance, etc.). Such stringent requirements guarantee the product’s quality.
We who love food and food experiences could probably all agree this is a good thing, in terms of wanting to make sure a particular camembert is in fact from Normandie to ensure that a particular flavor associated with a camembert from Normandie can be had when purchasing a cheese with that label. The system ("AOP" in terms of such products as camembert: see here) protects me to make sure I am getting what I want and what I am willing to pay a premium for even.
Things get more complicated for libations that have been part of our common (American) cultural reference vocabulary for like, forever. Such is the case for the beverage known as "champagne," as we laypersons, outside the food/beverage/restaurant industries, sometimes use the term "champagne" in a generic form (wrongly) to refer to anything bubbly. This may be because of a loophole in the international law that addressed this issue. For example, per this article, back in 1993:
...the International Agreement of Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) recognized wine appellations as valuable intellectual property rights. Under provisions that took effect in 1996, many signatory countries (including the U.S.) have agreed to protect Geographical Indications (GIs). The Joint Declaration to Protect Wine Place & Origin was signed in 2005, and now has the support of 15 international wine regions.
But as the article notes, there is indeed a loophole, despite efforts of US wine producers and advocates to get people, and wine producers, to use the right words in the US when it comes to what is really "champagne" and what is not really "champagne":
The Center for Wine Origins has been hard at work to protect these GIs....This particular problem is a little bit different—it focuses on an interesting loophole that exists in the current agreement, an exception that protects the continued use of geographic indications that were in trademarks and in actual use before TRIPS became effective. In the bilateral trade agreement, the term ‘champagne’ grandfathers’ U.S. producers using the name prior to 2005—the aftermath is evident as we continue to see U.S. producers such as Korbel’s ‘California Champagne’ on supermarket shelves.
And if you need a more authoritative, detailed source from lawyers who really know this stuff, the American Bar Association has this comprehensive summary of that patchwork of international laws, including a piece on the major philosphical differences between the US and European legal systems in dealing with such issues.
As for me and my everyday life between baseball practice, lightly monitoring homework and my carb intake and keeping up with Federal Circuit cases, I vow to do better. And though I am having a hard time wrapping my vocabulary around inviting friends to raise their glasses for a "sparkling wine toast" or a "Prosecco toast," I may just have to buy French champagne (redundant) for a real champagne toast. Better yet, I can do what the wine bars do. Notice they never have a section for "champagne." That part of the libations menu is simply "Bubbles." A bubbles toast it shall be. Cheers!
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