CHAMPAGNE, Switzerland: Makers of sparkling wine in the United States, Russia and Ukraine can appropriate the Champagne name for their products, but an innocent baking company in this tiny Swiss town is out of luck.Marc-Andre Cornu was salmon fishing in Norway when he got word. His secretary was on the line, saying that lawyers for the Swiss distributors of French Champagne had written to say he could no longer use the brand name his family had used since the 1930s. Three generations, beginning with his grandfather, had labeled their breadsticks and cookies "de Champagne," after their Swiss village, nestled among the vineyards that creep north from the shores of Lake Neuchtel.The lawyers' letters were only the first twist in a legal tangle as intricate as the gnarled and knotty grape vines hereabouts.In 1998, Switzerland reached an accord with the European Union that allowed its former national airline, Swissair, to make stopovers in European Union cities.
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Monday, May 26, 2008
Grange winemaker feels the pressure
Peter Gago feels more pressure each year when making Australia's most famous wine, Penfolds' Grange.
But he's supremely confident about the 2003 Grange to be released tomorrow with a price tag around $550 a bottle.
“It's right up there with the strong ones," Gago said today.
“We have had a number of reviews so far and the points given to it vary from 94 to 98 (out of 100) around the world from the few journalists who have seen it.
“From our perspective it's very solid, I have used the word stoic Grange – it's the real thing.
“Grange has never been the most alcoholic, or the most oaky, or highest extract, or most concentrated wine in Australia, it doesn't want to be.
“But the 03 has got all of those layers of complexity that will take it 30, 40, 50 years."
As chief winemaker at Penfolds, Gago acknowledges the pressure of making a wine officially declared a heritage icon by the National Trust of South Australia.
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