France And Russia Are In A Tussle Over Who Gets To Call Champagne ... 'Champagne'

https://www.npr.org/2021/09/03/ [login to see] /france-and-russia-are-in-a-tussle-over-who-gets-to-call-champagne-champagne
In a chilly windowless basement in this provincial French city, workers stack bottles of bubbly. Not just any bubbly, but le vrai champagne, which thanks to a special protected status can only be made in the Champagne region of eastern France.

"A lot of people want to use the name,' says Marie Genand, a lawyer for the Comité Champagne, which oversees production and trade for the Champagne region's 15,000 winemakers.

But in a deft display of soft power, one world leader is putting centuries of French tradition to the test.

In early July, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law reserving the use of the word champagne in the Russian market for sparkling wines produced in Russia.

Imported French champagne can no longer call itself...champagne.

"We were shocked," said Genand of the new Russian law.

But for now, many French champagne producers are caving in.