Truth in Labeling, When is Champagne not Champagne?

Greetings from Wadsworth, Ohio!

I received a press release from the Center for Wine Origins, a Washington D.C. based lobbing group representing the Champagne district in France as well as Porto, Portugal and Jerez, Spain. The release concerned the misuse in the United States of the terms Champagne and Porto in describing a type of wine. They contend, and rightfully so, that a Porto, should be from Porto, Portugal and a bottle of champagne should be from Champagne, France.

To be fair, I doubt that any wine drinker would make the mistake of thinking that a bottle of sparkling wine for 3.99 was champagne, but I guess they could. Most wine drinkers in the United States call anything sparkling champagne whether it's the real thing or not. It's the equivalent of calling facial tissue, Kleenex even though that's a brand name or calling the condiment ketchup even though only Heinz is ketchup and the rest are catsup!

When a product become so familiar and so popular the brand name becomes the generic name for the product. In most instances, that's good. It proves the value and popularity of the product. But is it misleading?

Most American, according the the article, are opposed to mislabelling. Of course, they are! The release states:

"A recent national survey of U.S. wine consumers, conducted by Peter D. Hart Research Associates, reveals that 79% of wine purchasers agree that consumers deserve protection from deceptive claims on food and beverage labels. The poll also found that 63% support a law prohibiting mislabeling."

Well, that depends on how the question was asked. If the questions was do you think consumers deserve protection from deceptive claims on food and beverage labels or support a law against deceptive labelling practices, sure they would agree to that. But would they feel the same way about a law to ban people from calling tissue Kleenex? I don't know.

Although someone might not be able to distinguish a bottle of sparkling wine from a bottle of French Champagne, or an American Port from a Portuguese Porto, I don't know if a law is worth the time.

So, what do you think? I'd love to have some readers weigh in on this issue. You can read more and view a well produced video package at the Center for Wine Origins web site at: wineorigins.com.

Let's hear from you, Nick On Wine fans!