All Champagne is Sparkling Wine but…not all Sparkling Wine is Champagne
My friends and I have been engaged in random discussions on whether there are any significant differences between the products termed “champagne” and “sparkling wine”. uBafo (Dumi) is of the view that there is no difference and if he purchases sparkling wine he will call it champagne if he wants to because he paid for it. In this article, I will be discussing the legal significance of distinguishing what is deemed to be “Champagne” and what is deemed to be “Sparkling Wine”
An appellation of origin (AO) refers to a special kind of geographical indicator in Trademark law. AO refers to the goods originating from the territory of a geographical object, with a certain specific quality or characteristics that are essentially due to the geographical environment in which they are produced. For a product to gain AO protection, it must have a qualitative link between the product (e.g. cheese) and its place of origin (e.g. Combalou caves).
Gorgonzola and Roquefort cheese are examples of AOs.
For a cheese to be deemed to be “Gorgonzola cheese” it must be produced in the provinces of Novara, Bergamo, Brescia, Como, Cremona, Cuneo, Lecco, Lodi, Milan, Pavia, Varese, Verbano-Cusio-Ossola and Vercelli of Italy
Cheese can only be classified as “Roquefort” cheese if it was aged in the natural Combalou caves of Roquefort-Sur-Soulzon in France.
AOs serve to inform the consumer about a product’s geographical origin and a specific quality or characteristic of the product that is directly linked to the place of origin. AOs are protected under intellectual property law, given their contribution to the higher commercial value of products and services in compliance with their specific characteristics and thus acquired reputation. AOs are protected for the benefit of the producers, the geographical areas involved and the consumers. The Paris Convention, Madrid, Lisbon, and TRIPS Agreements are a few international instruments that are utilized to protect and enforce AOs rights.
As stated in the heading of this article, all champagne is sparkling wine but not all sparkling wine is champagne. Sparkling wine can only be classified as champagne only when these two requirements are met:
1. The grapes and the wine must be produced in a specific, legally defined region of northern France (Champagne region); and
2. The wine must be produced under the rules of the champagne appellation e.g. the secondary fermentation that gives the wine its bubbles must take place in the bottle from which the sparkler is eventually sold and drunk.
Any sparkling wine with grapes grown outside of the Champagne region and/or the champagne appellation procedure was not followed, that sparkling wine cannot be legally be referred to as “champagne”.
Méthode Cap Classique or MCC is regarded as South Africa’s answer to champagne. The MCC production process is as vigorous and labour intensive as the champagne appellation however; it cannot be classified as “champagne” due to not meeting the two above mentioned requirements for champagne.
Veuve Clicquot, Gh Mumm, Pommery are a few examples of champagne and JC Le Roux, Graham Beck are a few examples of sparkling wine.
To answer the question, the key major difference between champagne and sparkling wine is that for champagne, the area in which the grapes are grown and the procedure in which the wine was processed is vital and important, the same cannot be said for sparkling wine.
