Champagne farmers lose case against Aldi

German discounter Aldi seems to have won a long-lasting battle with French champagne farmers regarding “champagne sorbet”. The European Court of Justice says that name is not a breach of the “protected designation of origin”.

Surprising ruling

Can Aldi sell champagne sorbet? According to the powerful Interprofessional Champagne wines Committee, the answer is no. It feels Aldi abuses champagne’s luxury image considering the sorbet only contains 12 % of champagne. It also says this is a breach of the “protected designation of origin”. This particular rule makes sure that wines that are not from the Champagne region cannot be called “champagne” (but have to divert to cava, prosecco or another type).

Because the dispute is European, the German Bundesgerichtshof turned to the European Court of Justice for advice. It seemed the French would win: over the past summer, the advisor did say that Aldi is making an unfair use of champagne’s luxury image and usually the judges follow their advisors.

However, the German discounter won: the Court feels that “the amount of champagne in the sorbet is an important factor”, but “not sufficient”. The sorbet just has to taste like champagne and it is now up to the German judge to rule whether that is the case…