Why can’t Australian sparkling wine be called Champagne?

A place name in its other sense

The Act defines a geographical indication as an indication that identifies wine goods as originating in a country, or in a region or locality in that country, where a given quality, reputation or other characteristic of the goods is essentially attributable to their geographical origin. It defines a traditional expression as a traditionally used name that refers, in particular, to the method of production or to the quality, colour or type of the wine, where the wine originates in a foreign country.

Subject to sections 40DA and 40DB, the description and presentation of wine is false if: it includes a registered geographical indication, and the wine did not originate in a country, region or locality in relation to which the geographical indication is registered.

Wine Australia Act 2013 (Cth) s 40D(2)(b), on the Federal Register of Legislation

That is why an Australian sparkling wine is not called Champagne. The name is in the register as an indication belonging to a place in France, and a wine made in Australia has not originated there. Wine Australia puts the rule in plain words on its own pages: a label may not use descriptors such as “Barossa style” or “Champagne method”, whether or not they would mislead anyone about origin.

The Register of Protected Geographical Indications and Other Terms is kept by Wine Australia under sections 40ZC and 40ZD of the Act, and Part 1 of it holds foreign geographical indications and their translations alongside the Australian ones. Part 2 holds traditional expressions for foreign wines, and Wine Australia notes that a traditional expression is protected only in its own language and only for the class of product the register names. Part 3 holds quality wine terms for Australian wine, which are terms prescribed under the wine trade agreement between Australia and the European Community and relate to Australian fortified wines. Part 4 holds additional terms; Wine Australia gives Icewine, Methode Champenoise and Moscato as examples of what sits there.

Two consequences surprise people who meet the register for the first time. Methode champenoise is itself a protected term: only wines that originate in the place the Champagne indication points to may use it in their description and presentation. And a map printed on a label, a brochure or an advertisement counts as part of the description and presentation: if it names or refers to a geographical indication and the wine was not sourced from that place, the claim is false or misleading.

The dates

The register is dated, and the dates are part of how it works. Wine Australia gives the day each indication was entered. The list below is the record for the names this site holds, in order.

On the label

A maker who wants to describe the method rather than the place has a term to use. Wine Australia’s additional labelling terms say that “traditional method” is not a regulated term, that it is taken to mean a sparkling wine made by the methode champenoise, and that Australian sparkling wines may use it as an alternative descriptor.

The European names have Australian successors. Apera and Topaque are certification trade marks held by Wine Australia, and the trade marks may be used only by approved users under conditions. “Cabernets” was the term the Australian industry adopted in place of Bordeaux.

Everything else a label might say about a wine sits under the general consumer rule as well. Wine Australia records that every product sold in Australia falls under the Australian Consumer Law, which forbids conduct in trade or commerce that misleads or deceives or is likely to, and it names claims such as “single vineyard”, “barrel fermented”, “estate bottled” and “established in” as examples of statements that come under that rule. A brand name should not mislead about the origin, age or identity of the wine, and a brand name or business name that contains a registered geographical indication may only appear on a label for wine sourced from that place. Medals and awards are permitted, so long as they do not clash with another labelling rule, such as the use of a protected term.

For an Australian sparkling wine, the word “champagne” is out and “traditional method” is in, and the wine itself is defined in the Food Standards Code: sparkling wine means the product consisting of wine that, by complete or partial fermentation of contained sugars, has become surcharged with carbon dioxide. Wine and sparkling wine must also contain no less than 45 mL/L of ethanol at 20°C, and wine must not contain added ethanol.

The cost of getting it wrong is set out in the Act. A person who sells, exports or imports wine in trade or commerce with a false description and presentation commits an offence carrying a penalty of imprisonment for two years, and the Act notes that a court may impose a maximum fine of 120 penalty units instead of, or in addition to, imprisonment, and that a body corporate may be fined up to five times that maximum. A misleading description and presentation carries the same term of imprisonment. Wine Australia says plainly that a failure to label geographical indications in line with the Regulations contravenes s 40F of the Act, which is an offence.