Bought any domestic champagne lately?

[Burning Petard]

If you have, the French are mad at you. That name is supposed to be used only for a specific bubbley wine made by specific process in a specific location, in France.

Since I have been cooking for only myself, I have been using lots of carrots and onions. Yesterday I needed to restock my onion supply. I noted my grocer had the usual types of onion, and a big sign for bags of Vidalia Onions. The price was about the same as all the others and I was surprised I thought those special onions from Vidalia Georgia only were available in the spring. What the heck, the price is right so I bought some.

At home I looked over the label in detail. Actually grown in Glenfield, California. It carefully says sweet onions, not Vidalia. US law says they can't be called that unless they come from Georgia, USA. I guess the people running the produce department here don't know that. O well, at least it was not from Peru.

They taste ok, but they are not Vidalias.

snailgate

[Gob]

No such thing as " domestic champagne", just fizzy white American wine.

But, having said that, some fizzy white wine tastes even better than Champaign. But, "de gustibus" as in all things taste related.

Not a fan of the tipple myself. B

[ex-khobar Andy]

This was all sorted a century ago in the Treaty of Versailles, which concluded the Great War (WW1). Much of the Champagne area had been devastated by the war, and the French wanted to protect their brand, not least from German wineries who made something similar. So Clause 275 of the ToV read

Germany undertakes on condition that reciprocity is accorded in these matters to respect any law, or any administrative or judicial decision given in conformity with such law, in force in any Allied or Associated State and duly communicated to her by the proper authorities, defining or regulating the right to any regional appellation in respect of wine or spirits produced in the State to which the region belongs, or the conditions under which the use of any such appellation may be permitted; and the importation, exportation, manufacture, distribution, sale or offering for sale of products or articles bearing regional appellations inconsistent with such law or order shall be prohibited by the German Government and repressed by the measures prescribed in the preceding Article. (My underlining.)

The irony is that European grapes were destroyed by phylloxera* insects in the 1890s. Phylloxera is an American bug and American grapes had evolved some resistance to it while European grapes, having had no exposure, had no defense. So most European vineyards including those in the Champagne region imported American vines in order to rebuild.

Despite having signed it and to a large degree having written it, the US never ratified the ToV. Senate opposition to Wilson was fierce, some of it (IMO) political and some of it practical. There were those who feared it was too harsh and might lead to more war - and they were eventually proved right although that's probably making a very long story way too short - and one result of this non-acceptance was that US never recognized the right of France alone to use the Champagne name.

So California wines (and other US wines AFAIK) can call themselves Champagne if they want.

* For the etymological entomologists among you (I've always wanted to use those two words in the same sentence) 'phylloxera' derives from two Greek words meaning 'leaf cutter' because that's what they do. 'φύλλο" (phyllo) means 'leaf' and the word still surfaces nowadays in phyllo (or sometimes fill) dough because it's sort of leafy.

And PS American 'Champagne' is crap. I've had it at weddings and I will never buy it. My tastebuds are probably too atrophied by now to tell the difference but I'm not willing to risk it.

[BoSoxGal]

The entomologist in me feels compelled to share this:

[Big RR]

So California wines (and other US wines AFAIK) can call themselves Champagne if they want.

Not only that I have also seen California Bordeauxs, Ports, Cognacs, Armagnacs and other well known wines and spirits. Not all US producer use these names, but some (even some well known reputable ones) do.

Then again, we also have domestic Swiss cheese (and other cheeses like cheddar), and there is a major case in which the courts ruled that a domestic producer could call certain hams it sells "Danish Ham." Not only that, but if they took them out into international waters and then brought them back in to the US, they could be called "Imported Danish Hams."

[BoSoxGal]

Then again, we also have domestic Swiss cheese (and other cheeses like cheddar), and there is a major case in which the courts ruled that a domestic producer could call certain hams it sells "Danish Ham." Not only that, but if they took them out into international waters and then brought them back in to the US, they could be called "Imported Danish Hams."

The law is an ass.

[Big RR]

Absolutely. And it has proven it many times.

But it does highlight a problem--absent a treaty what is Swiss Cheese (or Cheddar Cheese or Danish Ham), a style of cheese or cheese that comes from a particular location? Can the "methode champagnenoise" be used in California, and can it be stated it is followed? It happens in sports and entertainment also--the NY Yankees no longer have Babe Ruth but they are still called the NY Yankees, but a new group of guys calling themselves the Four Tops or the Temptations (or the Beatles for that matter) could be (and are) sued for doing a similar thing.

One thing the opening of Cuba will eventually produce is the conflict in naming of cigar and rum brands (the Dominican Republic sells Montecristo Cigars and Puerto Rico sells Havana Club and Bacardi rum; there are also Cuban transplant (plants brought out of Cuba when Castro arrived) cigars sold in the US with a reference to Cuba origin. I haven't spent a lot of time seeing if these non Cuban brands are available outside the US, but it is another problem that will need to be dealt with.

[Gob]

But Cornish pasties can only be made in Cornwall!!

[Long Run]

American sparkling wine is an increasingly important category, and it’s rare to find a quality domestic sparkling wine labeled with the word Champagne. Top Napa and Sonoma producers like Schramsberg, Gloria Ferrer, and Iron Horse label their bottles as “sparkling wine,” and it is illegal for an American winery to create a new wine label using the word Champagne, due to a 2006 trade agreement between the U.S. and the European Union.

So while education is still important for consumers, is it really necessary to actively monitor and prosecute wineries misusing the term Champagne? Sadly, the matter is not a thing of the past. Nearly 80 million bottles of American sparkling wine are produced and labeled with the word Champagne every year. They simply go unnoticed by the wine trade, media, and educated consumers because they are the bottles that “serious” wine folks would like to forget: brands like Korbel, André, Cook’s, and Barefoot.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/courtneysc ... 6d989c2081