Many countries are perfectly happy to swipe the names of fine, usually French, wine growing regions for their pale imitations of the real thing. I never expected the French to sink to such depths: look at the labels below that I saw whilst on holiday.
[image image_id=”3161″ size=”medium”] [image image_id=”3162″ size=”medium”]It does not even claim to be made by a New Zealand winemaker. Are some French so insecure about their wine heritage that they wish to pretend to be the arrivistes? Furthermore, the French are rabidly protective of their wine names; just try calling your fizzy wine (or anything else for that matter) ‘Champagne’ and the ever-circling French lawyers will be on you like a ton of bricks. Whoever is doing it, trying to palm off your wine as something other than it is is deeply poor form and gets on my moobs no end.
Here is an example of such bad behaviour, this time by some Californians, I saw in a wine merchant in New York City. Even though it claims to be 100% grape wine (as opposed to what, I wonder? 100% potato wine?) it is about as related to Chablis as the contents of my cat’s bowl. Come on, chaps, stop hanging on the good name of others and don’t be afraid to market your wine as what it is.
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