Difficult to interpret legislation, even with a president from Central and Eastern Europe, has recently been enacted in Russia: only a drink made from grapes grown in Russia can be called champagne in Russia. President Vladimir Putin signed the law on Friday and it is already in force. Accordingly, even PDO, branded sparkling wine imported from the French Champagne wine region can now only be marketed in Russia as sparkling wine.
French champagne in a Moscow store.
Photo: Evni Odinukov/Sputnik via AFP
In Hungarian, it doesn’t sound too ridiculous, but in Russian, champagne (шампанское – pronounced: sampanskaye) got its name from a popular drink after the French wine region, so it’s not really clear.
In any case, Moet Hennessy, who belongs to the French group LVMH, did not appreciate the Kremlin’s sense of humor: their office informed Russian wholesalers of liquor that they would stop selling their own champagne brands such as Moët & Chandon, Veuve Cliquot and Dom Perignon.
Russian social media has begun to joke about the Russian elite’s favorite consumer goods, including Scotch whiskey and Mercedes. (the local)
