In 120 countries around the world, the following applies: A sparkling wine can only be called champagne if it is made from grapes harvested in the wine-growing region of the same name. However, Vladimir Putin does not want to hear about it and turns the rule on its head.
July begins in Russia with a veritable flood of bans. Vladimir Putin enacts one law after another. The Russians are now officially forbidden to question “the decisive role of the Soviet people in defeating fascism”. Also prohibited by law: comparing the actions of the Soviet Union in World War II with those of Nazi Germany.
While these two bans are intended to secure Putin’s sovereignty over the story with which he is keeping his propaganda machine alive, other laws are apparently aimed at filling the wallets of the Russian oligarchs.
It is now forbidden in Russia to label alcoholic products from abroad as champagne. Only sparkling wine produced in Russia may be sold under the “Champagne” label. While the famous drops from the French region of Champagne can only be described as disdainful sparkling wines.
Putin is simply not interested in the fact that the term champagne is protected by the Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée and is therefore subject to the rules of the controlled designation of origin. In 120 countries around the world, only sparkling wines are allowed to call themselves champagne that are made from grapes that are harvested according to strictly defined rules in the Champagne wine-growing region in France.
Russian sparkling wine production collapses by a third
So far, the Russian government has not bothered to explain the background to the new law. “The law has been passed, it must be implemented,” commented Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
An obvious explanation is that Russian sparkling wine production should be boosted. In early 2021, production in Russia fell by a third. According to the National Union for the Protection of Consumer Rights, 3.1 million decalitres (one decaliter equals ten liters) were produced from January to May, 33 percent less than in the same period last year.
It is also no secret that many of Putin’s confidants and friends invest in viticulture. For example, the oligarch Boris Titov. He is the main shareholder of the traditional company Abrau-Durso, which, among other things, is growing on the annexed Crimean peninsula and is planning an immense expansion.
It is more than questionable whether the new law will help the stumbling production. Experts do not explain the sharp decline with a lack of consumer demand, but with the requirements of Russian legislation, according to which from mid-2020 wine and sparkling wine may only be made from domestic grapes. “I think that sparkling wine production in Russia will decrease by 40 percent in 2021 due to a shortage of grapes,” said Wadim Drobiz, director of the Center for Research of Federal and Regional Alcohol Markets, in an interview with the state newspaper “Rossiskaya Gazeta” last June. At best, this deficiency can be eliminated in ten to 15 years, the expert predicts.
Champagne in the land of lies
Meanwhile, the law is met with pure mockery among Russian consumers. “Now is the time to forbid Scots and Americans from using the word ‘whiskey’,” wrote restaurateur Sergei Mironov on Twitter. The well-known singer Wasja Oblomow, referring to the German luxury car brand, said that the Russian parliamentarians could now enact a similar law for the use of the name Mercedes.
The law represents the quintessence of Putin’s policy, wrote the sociologist Igor Eidmann on Facebook. “It seems to copy Gianni Rodari’s famous fairy tale ‘Jelsomino in the land of liars’. People are forced to regard lies as truth and truth as lies.” In the fairy tale, it is forbidden to tell the truth, and lies are considered an obligatory virtue. Cats have to bark and dogs meow. Even animals cannot avoid being forced to lie. “By signing this law, Putin seems to be telling the Russians: In this country I decide what is dung and what is candy. If I say that a dung heap is candy, you will praise and praise it,” continues the sociologist out. “The authorities are making Russia a real land of lies. They are trying to destroy reality, make their own fakes the standard, and undermine and discredit all values.”
French winemakers ask for EU intervention
The French winemakers reacted indignantly to the new law in Russia. France and the EU would have to stand up for “changing the unacceptable law”, demanded the Association of Champagne Producers on Monday. The new regulation gave “Russian consumers no clear and transparent information about the origin and character of the wines”, complained the French winegrowers’ association, which represents producers from the historic province of Champagne. He also called into question “more than 20 years of bilateral negotiations between the European Union and Russia on protected designations of origin”.
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