Champagne Gets Label Protection In China

China has agreed to offer full labelling protection to the French region of Champagne - something the United States refuses to do.

Beijing said it would limit the champagne label to only wines produced in the French region, with a trade group welcoming the move as a boost for the beverage in a fast-growing market.

Sales of the wine are accelerating in the world's second largest economy, from 50,000 bottles in 2001 to one million in 2010.

By 2012 consumption had doubled to two million bottles, making it the fifth-largest market outside the European Union.

But in a country famed for mass-producing fake goods, the champagne label has been applied widely, not only to Chinese-made sparkling wines but also goods ranging from candles to dog toys, trade body Le Comite Interprofessionnel du vin de Champagne (CIVC) said.

The new restriction will enable the organisation to seek action against mislabelled products more effectively, it added.

China had "achieved an optimal level of protection", CIVC spokesman Thibaut Le Mailloux said, welcoming the development.

The country was "one of the biggest future markets for champagne", he added.

China's national quality watchdog, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ), said champagne had been given "geographic mark protection" within the country.

The announcement on one of its websites specified the grape varieties to be used, locations in France where they had to be grown, where the wine should be made and the method of protection, among other factors.

China has only recognised three other labels in the wine and spirits sector, including cognac, Scotch whisky and the American vineyard region of Napa Valley, AQSIQ's director-general Pei Xiaoying said.

France is still lobbying the US and Russia to recognise the champagne label and block local sparkling wine producers from using the name.

"Chinese law gives us protection that Russia and the US do not," Mr Le Mailloux said, describing their approach as "anachronistic and without future".

The US signed a deal with the EU on named regions in 2006.

Last year the American Alcohol and Tobacco Tax And Trade Bureau released a statement saying it refused to renegotiate the agreement.

The American deal allows for a "grandfather" provision in semi-generic names, so that owners of US wineries bearing the word champagne on labels before 2007 can continue to do so in the future.