Belgian beer workers destroy Miller beer over “champagne of beers” slogan

[Mary1966]

https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/22/europe/b ... index.html

[haltz]

A few California sparkling wines say champagne on the label. There was an article in the Treaty of Versailles concerning this, signed by the US but never ratified thanks to prohibition. In 2005 an EU trade agreement with the US made it illegal, but producers were grandfathered in, such as Korbel, who has been making "California champagne" since 1892. One of the compromises was that they would be relabeled if shipped to an EU country. Something like a decade ago a bunch of wine labeled "California champagne" destined for Nigeria was destroyed in Antwerp.

France is quite strict about labeling - if you want the Champagne AOC designation in France you must adhere to location which is an area not much bigger than St Louis and specific production regulation including but not limited to everything from fermentation to yield to pruning methods. To them, putting the word Champagne on a beverage that doesn't follow these guidelines constitutes fraud. Wines are synonymous with location to the extent that you'd need to know what varietals and styles are associated with geographic regions to know what's in the bottle because they are named after the region not the grape varietal. Bordeaux is a cabernet blend, Chablis is a chardonnay, southern Rhone wines are grenache and syrah blends and northern Rhone wines are mostly syrah. Looking at this label you'll see Pauillac which is an AOC certified region, so you'd assume that it's a cabernet-heavy blend because that's on the left bank of Bordeaux. That's how it's giving you the information on the type of wine in the bottle, which is intimidating and kind of obnoxious for an American consumer.

Broadly speaking, new world wine regions mimic their old world counterparts in places that are reminiscent or share similar climatology. Napa has similarities to Bourdeaux so they do a lot of cabernet, there are a lot of pinots from Oregon and Sonoma just like Burgundy, Australia has world class syrah and the quintessential example from Penfolds even had Hermitage on the label for some time which is a northern Rhone AOC.

Most winemakers would rather just respect French wine and the wishes of wine authorities and producers and steer clear of this because it looks like a cheap knock off. Burgundy is a place known for pinot noir and there are bottles from Romanee Conti that cost as much as a Honda Civic but then there's Carlos Rossi cooking wine in a jug that also says burgundy on the label. I think it's made from zinfandel.

Treaties and trade agreements are what protect this terminology. Otherwise there's no reason to adhere to foreign laws aside from respect. For instance, NAFTA of all things in the 90s is why you'll never see a tequila from Texas or a bourbon from Jalisco.

You never knew alcohol could be so boring.

[Radbird]

Miller Coors should appreciate the free advertising.

[heyzeus]

They should fired AR-15s at the cans if they want to match their American brothers' moronic outrage.

[Leroy]

Call it the Freedom Champagne of Beers, but spell it Champain.

[sighyoung]

You know, champagne... is not champagne unless it comes from the province of Champagne. I learned that in Bartending School.