Champagne producers may not ban 'champagne' as a colour

A dress in the colour 'champagne', is it allowed? Champagne producers think not. The Hague court ruled last week that it is.
Text: Ingrid Larmoyeur (The Wine Institute) | Image: AI art by Vinissima

Does the designation "champagne" exist for a colour for a dress? Yes it does! Just type in "champagne dress" on Google and you will see plenty of elegant and festive dresses. But is this designation also legal in the EU? No, says the Comité Interprofessionnel du vin de Champagne (CIVC), the French interest group for champagne producers. The CIVC argues that using the name champagne infringes on the protected name of their sparkling wine because it also gives consumers a product a certain guarantee of quality.

Champagne has been registered as a protected name in France since 1927 and as a protected designation of origin since 1973, including in Europe. As a result, only champagne producers from the northern French region of the same name are allowed to give their sparkling wine this name.

Litigation

CIVC lawyers have been litigating against misuse of the name worldwide for years. For example, Yves Saint Laurent had to face another lawsuit over their perfume 'Champagne', which was withdrawn from the market and is now called Yvresse.

A similar fate seemed to await dresses by brand Cult Gaia when customs intercepted the consignment. On the labels of the dresses, baast the size, the colour also read 'champagne'. The CIVC wanted the dresses removed from circulation. But they lost a summary proceedings at the Hague court which ruled that the colour 'champagne' does exist and is allowed: "No exploitation of PDO reputation." PDO is the appellation of origin (AOP in French).

In 1932, the Algemeen Handelsblad in the Netherlands appears to have mentioned the colour even for dresses! "Very often one chooses some pastel shade for the toilets [sic] of bridesmaids, such as soft blue, pink, champagne, sea green...," according to the newspaper. And the French dictionary Larousse also mentions 'champagne' as a colour, the court concluded. According to the court, because of the colour name, erin consumers will also not confuse the dress with French sparkling wine. And so the CIVC may not ban 'champagne' as a colour.

Meanwhile, we wonder if the judge can distinguish prosecco from champagne... In any case, the judge's verdict will not go down well in Champagne. 🥂

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