China has recently recognized the appellation Champagne. This means that in future in China you will not see any Chinese bubbles, or imported ones for that matter, that is labelled as Champagne if they do not come from there. Other beverages that have already been recognized by the Chinese are Cognac, Scotch whisky and wines from Napa Valley.
Champagne is becoming more and more popular in China. A modest 50,000 bottles were imported in 2001. Now it is 2 million.
Now we just have to see if this will be respected. A similar law in the US for instance, has several loopholes which mean that you can still get American “Champagne”.
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