Russia and France agreed to establish a working group on solving a dispute associated with the Russian law on champagne marking. This was announced in Twitter Minister of Agriculture France Julien Denormandi.
Denormandi clarified that he had negotiators with the Deputy Head of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation Sergey Levin. The parties “came to an agreement on the work method to clarify the new Russian law on winemaking and finding a solution to the current situation” with champagne.
Earlier, the French agreed to return champagne to Russia – deliveries will be resumed from September 15. According to the co-chairman of the wines committee, Jean-Marie Barier, suppliers will respect the Russian law.
Problems with deliveries arose after Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law according to which only domestic producers can use the “champagne” description on the back of the bottle. It prohibits the use of the term “champagne” against sparkling wines produced outside Russia. Due to the incident, the shipment stopped 95 percent of trading houses. The champagne wines committee called the changes inadmissible, reminding that the term champagne itself is associated with the historical region in France.