By now, everyone who follows wine has heard about the boneheaded idea by the EU to ban the use of certain words on foreign wines sold in EU member countries. The words that would be banned are "chateau, classic, cream, crusted/crusting, fine, late bottled vintage, noble, ruby, superior, sur lie, tawny, vintage, and vintage character."
Well, what do Indiana wineries think about this? Who better to ask than one of the deans of Indiana wine, Dr. Charles Thomas of Chateau Thomas Winery for his thought on the proposal. Dr. Thomas emailed me his thoughts:
My opinion is that I was not upset by the EU’s move several years ago to set aside names of places, regions, etc., such as Burgundy, Chablis, Port, etc. because these are places with unique identity that should be respected. But I think attempts to ban the entire French language is taking it too far. So, I can’t have a ”rendezvous” with my wife, or put “mayonnaise” on my sandwich, or have “hors d’oeuvres” before dinner, or keep the name Versailles, IN or study American “cuisine.” If the United States Government started banning French businesses whose names or products contain English names, we would have a real trade war on our hands.
My choice of the name “Chateau” as my winery name 25 years ago was intended to be complimentary to the French as well as to suggest the style of wine I produce. I have been to France more than a dozen times. I currently have a French oenology exchange student working at my winery. I love the French people, although the government has problems (as does ours). I draw the line, however, with this proposed ban."
I couldn't have said it better than the good Doctor.
13 years ago
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3 comments:
That's all well and good, but how much wine does Chateau Thomas import to the EU? At issue isn't the ban, it's the tariff "war" going on between the US and France right now. No disrespect to Dr. Thomas, but he can take a stand where-ever he likes. The ban doesn't make any real difference to his business.
I think the problem is how foreign wineries have screwed their euro-cousins by stealing the proprietary names, designations, and appellations purely for profit over the years. How would Rolls Royce feel if Ford came out with a Silver Shadow? Thats what US and other winemakers have been doing, using words that are legal descriptors in Europe to add credibility (read SALES) to thier products.
After all, what do we call sparkling wine? Imitation is not always the sincerest form of flattery
rick
Braingirl,
You are exactly right, but this issue isn't going to bother any Indiana wineries for the forseeable future. Given where Indiana wine are in the development curve, a lot of prospective topics that I might get an interesting prospective on might be off the table using your standard.
I just thought it would be nice to get the perspective of an Indiana winery that would be implicated by the proposal if they wished to import to the EU.
Given the limited focus of this blog, I'll leave the trade war talk to others.
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