Tag Archives: Champagne

Hooray for Champagne Jayne

07 Wednesday Jun 2017

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champagneSometimes the good guys win. Champagne Jayne is an Australian wine blogger dedicated to spreading love for her favorite beverage—until she started writing favorably about sparkling wine from other regions. The trade group promoting the Champagne region Comité Champagne (CIVC) sued her, claiming she had infringed on its trademark when writing about other regions while using her name.

The wine world has rallied to her cause raising money for her legal battles and last week an Australian judge ruled in Champagne Jayne’s favor, although he claimed some of her social media posts were misleading.

This lawsuit was quite simply ridiculous. Why a trade group would attack someone who tirelessly promoted their product is beyond me.

At any rate, I’ve been boycotting Champagne because of their nonsense. There is a lot of good sparkling wine from regions around the world; I feel no urgent need to buy Champagne. But it’s good to hear a David and Goliath story with a happy ending.

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Champagne Jayne: Her Ordeal is Not Over

10 Tuesday Mar 2015

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predatorOn the eve of last New Year’s Eve I blogged about the plight of Champagne Jayne, the Australian wine blogger who has been sued by the Champagne region’s trade association (CIVC) because she sometimes praises sparkling wine not made in Champagne. If the CIVC prevails it will put Champagne Jayne out of business and take away her only source of income. Talks to reach a settlement through mediation have failed and so the case is back in an Australian court. The case is logically absurd. Champagne Jayne is a person, not a bottle of wine, so consumers are not confused by her use of the name and the region of Champagne suffers no loss because of it. They are simply being bullies.

And so I will continue to refuse to drink Champagne.

The Wine Curmudgeon articulates the reason why all of us should care about this case:

And if the CIVC gets away with this, and it seems like it will, then it sets a precedent for any business that doesn’t approve of what someone writes, wine or otherwise. Don’t like what I say about your wine? Then sue, claiming I used your brand name incorrectly. Don’t like what the New York Times’ Mark Bittman says about your fast food? Then sue, claiming Bittman infringed on your intellectual property.

This is just another example of predatory corporations using their control of legal systems to crush people with few resources—just because they can.

Champagne Jayne is forbidden by the court to talk to the media—how convenient for the vultures. Her supporters have started a fundraising campaign the help with her defense.

The campaign can be found at www.gofundme.com/jaynevgoliath

The Champagne Boycott

30 Tuesday Dec 2014

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champagneI won’t be drinking Champagne this New Year’s Eve. If the Champagne trade association wants to act like thugs they can do it without my money.

CIVC, The trade association for Champagne, the region in France that produces sparkling wine, has long been engaged in a fight to prevent other sparkling wine producers from calling their product Champagne. This is entirely reasonable. If your grapes are not grown in Champagne then you don’t make Champagne—you make sparkling wine. Why should Champagne allow competitors to capitalize on their reputation?

But the CIVC is now suing an Australian blogger who calls herself “Champagne Jayne” because, while promoting Champagne to her readers, she sometimes praises other sparkling wines. She is accused of misleading her readers by using the name “Champagne Jayne” while promoting other sparkling wines, thus tarnishing the reputation of Champagne. This, despite the fact that she has won many wine educator awards in France because of her efforts on behalf of Champagne.

I fail to see the logic. Are her readers confusing Jayne with a bottle of Champagne? If she clearly distinguishes Champagne from sparkling wine where is the confusion? Apparently if you enjoy Champagne you are logically required to spit out the stuff from Napa or the Loire Valley.

This is just juvenile and makes you wonder what happened to the marketing genius that made Champagne one of the world’s most recognizable brands. Their thuggish tactics will tarnish their reputation more than anything Champagne Jane does.

Amuse Bouche

07 Friday Sep 2012

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brioche french toast

Brioche French Toast with Bananas, Crème Patissiere and Salted Caramel

News from the world of food and wine that you might have missed this week.

Here is a great photo essay chronicling the path of a cheese from a small farm in Spain to a shop in New York.

This is rich. A Scottish bar wants protected status for their deep-fried Mars bars. Mars Inc. objects because it would make their candy unhealthy. Apparently, in the “reality” of Mars’ corporate culture, sugar is a health food.

Ahh, the wonders of science. Evidence that the shape of a beer glass influences how fast the beer is drunk. Flutes go down the hatch more quickly than straight sides, probably because its harder to monitor volume in a flute.

Some people have no principles. McDonalds goes vegetarian in India.

A new study questions the claim that organic food is more nutritious than conventionally-produced food. As usual, the conclusion is oversold and not warranted by the data. Here are some reasons to be skeptical. I would have thought that reducing pesticide levels is part of good nutrition. Silly me.

Surströmming is a foul smelling product made of fermented fish. It is also a Swedish culinary classic that the EU has tried to ban and some Swedes want to elevate to protected status. Really? It needs protection?Is someone outside Sweden threatening to sell this as their own?

Knowing whether a wine is ageworthy or not is difficult. Here is some excellent advice on how to tell if a wine will improve in the bottle.

Champagne sales are declining because of competition from other regions that make quality, but less expensive, sparkling wine. Here is some free advice to Champagne houses. Lower your damn prices.