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Two businesses in the Champagne industry have made the news this week following their sending of cease and desist letters to third parties referencing 'champagne' and related terms in their marketing for sparkling wine.
Firstly, the UK distributor for Bollinger Champagne threatened action against English sparkling wine manufacturer Folc, who released an advert for their pink sparkling wine referencing 'Bollie'. In their letter, the distributor seemingly mentioned Folc's attempts to divert trade away from Bollinger, to the detriment of their consumers. Secondly, Champagne industry association Comité Champagne sent a letter to Della Vite Prosecco following its "cheat on Champagne" marketing slogan, used to promote its Prosecco product.
Champagne houses and organisations are known to fiercely enforce and protect use of 'Champagne'. It is a protected designation of origin (PDO) meaning only products made following very strict rules can be called Champagne.
There is a clearly a prestige surrounding Champagne - this prestige is an invaluable marketing tool and no doubt drives sales and consumer recognition. Champagne is the current benchmark and producers of other sparkling wines wish to be seen as being 'as good as Champagne'.
However, as can be seen from these recent cases, producers of sparkling wine make any comparison with Champagne at their peril. In order to maintain their renown and make clear that any reference to Champagne - either direct or indirect - should be strictly reserved for Champagne products, we can expect Champagne houses and industry bodies to continue with this approach.
Any mention of or allusion to Champagne in marketing a wine that doesn't come from the French region is treated as a potential threat to Champagne house's prestige and sales
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