[yokaze]

"The Rolls Royce/Prada/... of beers"

Champagne is a brand for sparkling wine. People pay a premium (justified or not) for it.

My examples are even more unrelated than the beer, still the companies would likely defend their brand.

Miller is trying to pull itself up with the brand Champagne and is pulling the brand down. (If Miller is champagne of beers, what does it say about champagne as a sparkling wine)

[kmlx]

> Miller is trying to pull itself up with the brand Champagne and is pulling the brand down.

yes, this is how some europeans see it. imo it’s absurd.

> Miller High Life has proudly worn the nickname ‘The Champagne of Beers’ for almost 120 years

seems to me european laws have become more ridiculous as time goes by. and the more ridiculous the more staunch defendants somehow.

[lnxg33k1]

Why do you think so? As European I don't understand why you think that it is stupid, but also coming from a place that has interest in keeping that kind of law active (I am from Napoli, Italy), I see the usefulness of avoiding companies not being based in Emilia doing a cheese that is called Parmigiano, or not based in Naples doing Bufala, or Pachino..

Consider that each naming is often backed by a consortium, not a single company, and represent the whole process from selection of ingredients to the manufacturing, as a consumer I kinda know what to expect based on the naming

I can only see positively that not anyone from China or US can just export something and claim to be something else and probably make a Parmigiano with rat poison

[kmlx]

> Why do you think so?

lack of competition. protectionism. etc

> I see the usefulness of avoiding companies not being based in Emilia doing a cheese that is called Parmigiano, or not based in Naples doing Bufala, or Pachino..

I should be able to create all of those anywhere on the planet. there's nothing special about Naples or Emilia, no matter how much we wish it to be true.

> I can only see positively that not anyone from China or US can just export something and claim to be something else and probably make a Parmigiano with rat poison

zero probability of this happening, but the vein of this idea is actually quite common in Europe when it comes to discussing about the US and China.

[lnxg33k1]

Meh I think lack of competition and protectionism is a good thing, there are a lot of industrial mozzarella etc that compete and not protect and they are usually cheap ingredient, cheap labour and no taste, and they all go down, probably you want competition, then buy the alcoholic beverages not being "Champagne", when I go to get something that is a DOC/DOP mark, I expect not competition but quality, yeah you can do mozzarella wherever you want, just don't call it Mozzarella di Bufala Campana DOP? That doesn't disallow you to produce mozzarella wherever you want, but just limits you on the kind of mark you can use on it?

[timrichard]

Interesting to see what happens in the case (no pun intended) of Champagne regarding climate change.

Due to global warming, there are indications that ideal growing conditions are moving westwards towards the South of England. Established houses like Tattinger have been buying up vineyards in Kent.

I wonder what would happen to that protected name if parts of their raw material had no connection to that region of France.