A French Sauvignon Blanc has been blocked in Australia, following complaints from the New Zealand Winegrowers Association.
Lacheteau, a producer based in the Loire Valley, already sells its "Kiwi Cuvee" in Europe and Britain.
A recent attempt to register it in Australia caught the attention of The New Zealand Winegrowers Association, who subsequently opposed the move.
'The term "Kiwi" has a very strong association with New Zealand and our view is that it should be reserved for New Zealand wines,' New Zealand Wine Growers president Philip Gregan said.
David Cox, European director of New Zealand Wine Growers, called the development a 'delicious irony.'
'In a sense, the sincerest form of flattery is being paid to New Zealand producers of Sauvignon Blanc,' he told decanter.com
New Zealand Winegrowers told an Australian tribunal that Sauvignon Blanc was the 'archetypal New Zealand wine variety and screw-cap bottles, while being the preferred choice for New Zealand wines, are an anathema to traditional French winemakers.'
Trademarks hearing officer Terry Williams ruled that the name would cause confusion in Australia and blocked the registration attempt.
'Customers in such places might ask for wine by variety, for example a Clare Riesling or, less formally, a Kiwi Sauvignon Blanc,' Mr Williams said.
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If it was anyone other than the French it probably wouldn't have raised an eyebrow
As it is the French – I say make the complaint worldwide and have them either destroy or relabel the existing stocks
It's a great sense of irony, and a delicious pay-back. Couldn't happen ( I mean that most sincerely ) to anyone else. Mark Greenaway
That said, the wine is called Kiwi Cuvée because it is made in France by a Kiwi, New Zealand winemaker Rhyan Wardmann (who was also responsible for the labelling) as a joint-venture with Lacheteau.
This cuvée is a drop in the ocean of cheap Sauvignon blanc produced by Lacheteau, usually labelled with its Loire valley appellation. I do not think Lacheteau can be attacked fot its use of "Kiwi" which is not more confusing than the use of words "Chateau", "Clos", "Domaine", "Cuvée", etc... that give a definitive french aspect to many old- and new-world labels, where the geographical origin is barely visible.
What Lacheteau did which is wrong is to register the word Kiwi as a brand in Europe, preventing New-Zealanders from selling wine with this name in Europe. That is totally unfair, and Lacheteau should not have done that. The ruling in Australia against Lacheteau comes as retaliation against threats made by Lacheteau against NZ producers trying to use (very legitimately) the word Kiwi to sell wine in Europe. Funnily, for ten years before this episode, the Kiwi Cuvée did not seem to cause any problems to Australia or New Zealand.
This matter should be solved easily, NZ being certainly able to explain to European courts that Kiwi cannot be registered (by the way, it is originally, and still is, a registred trademark of shoe polish)
However, what I will remember of this episode is the violence of the anti-french posts everywhere, and the display of hate against everything french in the english-speaking media. This was totally amazing and unsuspected in a world where everybody knows each other and works together and travel abroad. Are we still in the XVIIIth century? Philippe Sere
The truly sad point is not a petty argument about a label, or even the grotesque anti-French outburst, but the power of marketing and large corporations. For about the same price as the mass-produced and hugely over-hyped Cloudy Bay sauvignon, I just bought the handmade, unique single vineyard Sancerres of Francois Cotat, wines that age a decade or two, are terribly difficult to make on vertiginous slopes, and that are in quality terms in a simply different league. And yet everyone know thinks sauvignon blanc is best in NZ. It's nice enough and can be good value, but where are the Cotats, the Dageneau's, the Boulays? If you want the really top quality stuff, forget the Antipodean megas and head back to the Loire. Adrian Latimer
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If it was anyone other than the French it probably wouldn't have raised an eyebrow
