Champagne or Sparkling Wine

[teagal]

A large winery near where I am has recently opened a "Champagne House". They produce a few sparkling wines and offer tours and tastings. A couple of them are pretty nice.

What bugs me is that they named it the Champagne House. Isn't that so incorrect? I thought only sparkling wines from the Champagne area of France could be called Champagne.

I can understand from a marketing point of view, esp. in a semi-rural area, that the name sounded good and everyone will understand what you are selling, however I feel like the name choice was almost an ethical decision and to me it was a bad choice.

Am I alone in this way of thinking?

[suzilightning]

you are right about that teagal. technically and ethically they are sparkling wines, not champagnes since only those sparkling wines from the champagne region can bear that appelation.

i can see their method rationalle but they may find themselves on the nasty end of a visit from a lawyer since the Champagne region tends to oversee their DOC strongly.

[SundaySous]

you are right about that teagal.  technically and ethically they are sparkling wines, not champagnes since only those sparkling wines from the champagne region can bear that appelation. 

i can see their method rationalle but they may find themselves on the nasty end of a visit from a lawyer since the Champagne region tends to oversee their DOC strongly.

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I kinda doubt a legal challenge. You can't call a sparkling wine Champagne unless it's made there. Champagne itself is in the public domain.

I forget do the grapes have to come from Champagne or just be made there? I may be thinking olive oil.

[Peter H]

I kinda doubt a legal challenge. You can't call a sparkling wine Champagne unless it's made there. Champagne itself is in the public domain.

I forget do the grapes have to come from Champagne or just be made there? I may be thinking olive oil.

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The French AOC thing is largely about where the grapes are grown. I suppose you could make Champagne anywhere providing the grapes came from in the right place!

[IrishAdventurer]

I wouldn't rule out a legal challenge though: I read today about a Swiss village that is actually called Champagne (unlikely as it sounds), that lost a legal challenge to call wines produced there 'Champagne'...

[Brad Ballinger]

You will find some previous threads on this topic here and a longer one here.

From my perspective, the is purely a marketing/business decision. I don't know where in Missouri you are, but "Sparkling Wine House" probably isn't going to generate the same amount of attention. It may also be a play on words, intentional or unintentional. In some literature, "Chmagne House" is a term that refers to a producer of Champagne, and that producer's standard NV bottling is sometimes referred to as their "House Champagne."

[Raoul Duke]

Sounds to me that they have named the facility, not the product. I suspect that's a large difference, legally.

[Naftal]

Doesn't term "champagne" also refer to a method of secondary fermentation?Could they legally put "made in the 'champagne method'" somewhere on their bottles?

[Daniel Rogov]

(a) Largely because of a host of treaties between EU nations and EU nations and the Americas, the Middle- and Far-East, only wine made in the region of Champagne is entitled to use that name. I personally am all for that and in favor of all other wines being called "sparkling wine".

(b) Many wineries outside of the area of Champagne have agreed as well to no longer use the words "method Champenoise" on the bottles but to substitute that with "the traditional method".

© In general, the same can be said about Port, Madeira, and other wines that carry the name of a specific place. It is equally true of certain kinds of food products. With cheeses for example, Parmesan, Emmenthal, Gruyere, Camembert...

[Nathan]

I didn't realize that there was any conflict over the use of "methode champenoise" for other sparkling wines (cremant, cava, spumante and what-have-you)...since it just tells you that they're following the traditional method but not purporting to be "champagne"