French luxury giant LVMH reportedly stops champagne deliveries to Russia over certification dispute

The Russian elite may lose easy access to some brands of fine French champagne after a change in regulations required them to be classified as mere sparkling wine. Winemakers in the eponymous province were reportedly unamused.

The looming trouble in the top sector of the Russian wine market was first reported by the business news outlet RBK, which obtained a letter sent by a distributor of the French luxury product company LVMH. Moet Hennessy Distribution Rus informed its clients that it had suspended deliveries of all sparkling wines to the country.

The stated reason was a change in the regulations of the alcohol market, which was signed into law by President Vladimir Putin on Friday. It overhauls many rules, including removing the word ‘champagne’ from the name of the category for sparkling wines and champagne.

Moet Hennessy Russia said the amendment forces recertification of champagne wines and that winemakers in the French province which gave its name to the product “have not confirmed” that they will agree to the move.

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The line of sparkling wines supplied by LVMH is in the upper segment of the price range, with brands such as Dom Perignon sold in Russia at around $450 a bottle.

The head of a leading monitor of the Russian alcohol market commented to RBK that the distributor seemed to erroneously interpret the new law as a challenge to the international brand. The French trademark ‘champagne’ is a protected designation, like Brie cheese and Morteau sausages. “Our law cannot cancel [that], it’s not under its jurisdiction,” Vadim Drobiz of the CIFRA group said.

The monitor said that Russia imports around 50 million liters of sparkling wines annually, with 13% coming from France. LVMH’s share is relatively small, around 2%, so if the company refuses to deliver champagne to Russia, “members of the elite will have Italian Prosecco and Spanish Cava in their glasses when posing for photos,” he said.

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Meanwhile, the local competition took some shots at the démarche, calling it a “rant over nothing” and “some kind of blackmail,” citing Leonid Popovich, the head of the Russian Union of Grape-growers and Winemakers.

“If you don’t want to supply it, don’t,” he said. “Russia has sparkling wines that are no worse in quality, taste and aroma, and our consumers won’t be lacking.”

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