"Champagne controversy" fermentation: dissatisfied with Russia's new regulations, France Hennessy suspended the supply of champagne to Russia

The Paper's reporter Nan Boyi

On July 5, 2021, local time, Moscow, Russia, the champagne produced by Moët Hennessy Group in France was promoted in supermarkets, and the staff was doing packaging work. People's Vision Diagram

The well-known French winemaker Moët Hennessy Group said on July 5 local time that after Russian President Putin signed a bill on the naming of "Champagne" on the 2nd, the company suspended the supply of champagne to Russia.

According to Fox News, according to the bill signed by Putin, the term "champagne" can only be used for "Russian champagne" in Russia. A moët Hennessy spokesperson said champagne supplies to Russia had to be suspended as a way to assess the impact of the new regulations.

According to a tass news agency reported on the 6th, Moët Hennessy pointed out to the media that in addition to suspending supply and reviewing the impact of new legislation, the company cannot supplement other evaluation content for the time being.

According to Reuters, Putin signed a bill on July 2. According to the document, sparkling wine exported to Russia by foreign countries must be marked in the relevant way and must not be named "Champagne"; the requirement to be marked only involves sparkling wine exported from abroad to Russia, excluding Russian domestic products, so sparkling wine produced in Russia can use the Russian name "Champagne" (Shampanskoye) alone, without any other labeling.

According to agencies such as Agence France-Presse and TASS, Moët Hennessy once said on July 4 that it "always abides by the current regulations of the place where it operates" and can not use the word "champagne" in Russia, but the name "sparkling wine" must be printed on the back of the bottle and not on the front.

Fox News said that for many champagne lovers, only sparkling wines from France that use a specific brewing process can be called "champagne".

But in Russia, the word "champagne" has traditionally been used to refer to various types of sparkling wine. In the 1930s, the Soviet brewing industry developed a "Soviet Champagne" that made this imported product with a "petty bourgeois" atmosphere affordable to the people through large-scale, industrial production, and made the Soviet working class affordable.

Fox News noted that Russia's new "Champagne" law has caused controversy, and even Russian brewers have thought it is "too much". Pavel Titov, president of Abrau-Durso, a Russian sparkling wine producer, said that while it is important to protect the country's alcoholic products in the Russian market, he has no doubt that the real champagne is produced in the French province of Champagne.

At present, the French Champagne Association has asked all its partners to suspend the supply of Champagne to Russia. French Trade Minister Frank Lister said he was closely following the implementation of the Russian bill, while also maintaining contact with representatives of relevant industries in France and other European partners.

According to the French newspaper Le Monde, Russia imports about 50 million liters of champagne from foreign countries a year, of which 13% comes from France, so many French companies are reluctant to abandon the Russian market. TASS reported on the 6th that factor experts said that Moët Hennessy champagne accounted for less than 1% of the Russian market, and its decision to suspend the supply to Russia was unlikely to affect Russian consumers.

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