Vladimir Putin has declared a trade war on France over champagne | Only sparkling wines produced in Russia can use this name.

Vladimir Poutine on Friday signed a law which stipulates that only sparkling wines from Russia may be named with the word “champagne”. True French champagne, from the Champagne region, should be called “sparkling wine”.

Thus, the President of Russia introduced French “champagne” in the commercial and cultural dispute between countries of the first world by seeking to protect the national sovereignty of the local production of the drink.

Response from France

The French houses of “champagne” asked Monday for diplomatic help while the French producers benefit from the appellation. It gives them exclusive use of the word in countries that adhere to the Lisbon Agreement on Distinctive Geographical Indications.

Russia not having signed this agreement, Vladimir Putin was able to ban the use of the Russian translation of champagne – “Shampanskoe” – on imported bottles. French producers will still be able to use the French word, but will also have to write “sparkling wine” on the back of the bottles.

The producers, in reaction, they asked “the French and European diplomats to obtain the modification of this unacceptable law”, reports the Champagne Committee, which brings together winegrowers and Champagne producers in the north-east of France. They denounced the measure as “scandalous” which “Calls into question more than 20 years of bilateral talks between the European Union and Russia on the protection of controlled designations of origin”.

The managing director of the Union des Maisons de Champagne, David Chatillon, protested against the law, telling France News Live that “It is the appropriation of a name in which the Champenois have invested 300 years”.

“It feels bad to be bitten”, he stressed. However, he noted that it was early to talk about a halt in deliveries of French champagne to Russia and said they would ask French and European diplomacy “to mobilize efforts to change this law”.

Change labels

The Kremlin, for its part, He ratified the controversial law which obliges to renounce this denomination in Russia. “This history of denominations is very old, it is a history that comes from the Soviet era. The law has been approved, it must be respected “Russian presidency spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday.

Peskov noted that “Russian viticulture is a branch of the economy that is developing very quickly and with great quality, despite the crisis situation”.

“It’s a complex branch of the economy and doesn’t generate quick money. The commercial process is long: it is very complex from a technological point of view, it takes a long time, and yet this branch is developing well and of course, it must be and it will be supported by all means ” , did he declare.

Moët Hennessy, a French company, sent a letter to Russian distributors last Friday announcing the end of supplies. However, this Sunday he accepted the Russian request and announced the resumption of shipments, with new labels. Although the public relations representative of the supermarket network Azbuka Vkusa, said that “so far we have not received any information” on the resumption of supplies.

According to estimates by the Research Center for Federal and Regional Alcohol Products Markets (TSIFRRA, for its acronym in Russian), RUsia imports nearly 50 million sparkling wines and champagnes annually, 13% of which come from France.

From this amount, to Moët Hennessy corresponds to less than 2%. However, In 2020 alone, the company in Russia sold 5.5 billion rubles ($ 75 million) and made a net profit of 560 million rubles ($ 7.63 million), according to data from the Russian agency Interfax.