Champagne producers lose their bottle in Russian row

Russian producers can continue to use “shampanskoye” — meaning champagne — on their labels while French makers must define their product simply as “sparkling wine”
Russian producers can continue to use “shampanskoye” — meaning champagne — on their labels while French makers must define their product simply as “sparkling wine”
ALEXANDER NEMENOV/GETTY IMAGES

Champagne began flowing into Russia again yesterday after French producers backed down in a dispute with Russia over the use of the drink’s name.

The industry’s lobby group, the Champagne Interprofessional Committee, abandoned a boycott it had called in July after a decree signed by President Putin that restricted use of the Russian name for champagne — shampanskoye — exclusively to Russian-produced sparkling wine.

The order, which was deemed to be a favour to Boris Titov and Yuri Kovalchuk, two Putin allies with winemaking interests, forces the French makers to stick a Russian label on the back of their bottles defining the content only as “sparkling wine”.

Despite French indignation over the summer, Moet & Chandon, Veuve Clicquot, Dom Perignon and the other brands from