No Champagne in Champagne, Switzerland
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Champagne, the Swiss town
Champagne is a Swiss town in the district of Grandson, canton of Vaud, Switzerland. Champagne sits on Switzerland's western border with France. It is a small town with only a population 600.It has some 600 inhabitants and is located on the western border with France. In 1974, vintners in the Swiss city were ordered by the World Trade Organization to cease using "champagne" in the name of the beverage produced there.
Champagne, the French region
Champagne, the sparkling wine producing region in France located 160 kilometers from Paris, capital city of France. This Champagne wine region is further divided into five wine producing district:- Vallée de la Marne
- Montagne de Reims
- Côte de Sézanne
- Côte des Blancs
- Aube
Champagne, the sparkling wine
Champagne is a sparkling white wine, with carbonation produced by fermentation of the wine while in the wine bottles. While the use of the term Champagne for wine can be loosely used in other parts of the world, In Europe, only sparkling wine produce in the Champagne region can be called Champagne.Champagne, the town which cannot call its locally produced wine Champaign
Switzerland and the European Union signed a treaty in 2004 which only allow sparkling wine from the Champagne region to be called Champagne. Thus, Champagne was left high and dry, unable to call sparking wine produced in its own town Champagne to be called Champagne. And now its inhabitants are up in wine and has vowed to fight it. Reason? It's sale of wine has dropped from about 110,000 bottles annually to 32,00 bottles a year in 2007. This is because they cannot put the name Champagne on bottles its locally produced wine.Let us see who wine this naming war. My bet is not on Champagne, the town.
