Putin On The Fizz

Week Ending 10th July 2021

Whilst the Tour de France has been whizzing through Languedoc, and most of my friends have been out enjoying the beautiful weather and gathering up the ‘loot’ from the passing ‘Caravan’; I have been doing some research on a story sent to me by Quaffer and Scoffer, Fran Maguire.

Earlier this week, Fran sent me an article about how Russia seemed to be thumbing its nose at the labeling of Champagne, and this intrigued me… How many other products were Russia nominally re-branding, and what was the cause - and the point !?

The very first thing to apprise you of is a burgeoning Russian domestic market for sparkling wines - sales to the tune of 220 million bottles of fizz produced in the region of Krasnodar in the south of Russia, as well as in the Crimea, add to that another 50 million litres of imported sparkling wine ( True Champagne represents around 13% of this figure) and we begin to see how much the Russians love their bubbles!

And Russia loves a swanky brand… They are among the most significant importers of top of the range champagnes.?

Some 120 countries are signatories to the adherence of Appellation under the Lisbon Agreement - guess who isn’t ;)?

So here is the rub :? Imported champagne, from Champagne, must now have sparkling wine (written in cyrillic) printed on the back label, and the word “Shampanskoye” which is the russian word for champagne, cannot appear on the bottle AT ALL !?

It appears this knee jerk reaction has left some of the big players in the game both understandably frustrated, and in the unenviable position of now holding a load of stock which is ‘incorrectly’ labeled for importation to Russia.?

Talk of involving the World Trade Organisation is being muttered about, the Comite Champenoise is beside itself, and even the French foreign minister Jean Yves le Drian is wading into the argument.

It is Nicole Clicquot - better known as Veuve Clicquot who pioneered the introduction of Champagne into the Russian aristocratic court back in 1814, for the next 100 years, it wasn’t a party in Russia until it was fueled by French Champagne. Prince Leo Golitsyn is credited with planting the first vineyards expressly for the production of a Russian sparkling wine on Lake Abrau ( from which one of Russia’s chief producers of fizz, takes its name - Abrau Dyurso.

?There is a rather delicious irony which has not escaped my notice, to improve the quality of the ‘home grown’ Russian fizz, who should be invited in to consult ? Yes of course, they asked the French ! Admittedly sparkling wines for domestic consumption were labeled Soviet Champagne until well, last Friday !!

Will it ultimately do any good ? Who knows, Russia has already seen off the likes of Parmesan, Gouda and Iberico Ham in favour of their home grown alternatives, so does Champagne stand a chance of upholding its reputation or is Vlad The Imbiber going to run roughshod over this quintessentially French wine ?

Watch out Melton Mowbray, Putin might be coming for your pies !!

I’m off for a nice chilled glass of cremant if anyone’s interested ; )Cheers - have a great weekend everyone.