Wine Law

PROMOTING THE WINE INDUSTRY UNDER FRENCH LAW 327 lists complies with the requirements set out by the Public Health Code, being only provided the wine’s name, the harvest year, the vineyard or the wine merchant selling the wine to the consumer and its price tab. This information is still viewed as a set of individual advertisements within a single document presented to the public, with the restaurateur being, nevertheless, licensed to sell wines and spirits. The same does not happen in the case of an advertisement displayed outside the restaurant. In order to clarify the prohibition on promoting beverages, it must be determined what is understood by “advertising”; however, the legislator did not define what exactly is understood by communication or advertising when it comes to wine. In 2012, the Court of Cassation 37 ruled that collective advertising on a wine-growing region – in this case, the Bordeaux region – must necessarily be considered as advertising because the communication was a commercial transaction between the winegrowers and the advertising company. Consequently, this case-law adopted an extensive conception of communication on drinking, including collective advertising within its scope, since the communication was not limited to providing purely objective statements. Furthermore, Law no. 2016-41 of 26 January 2016 on the modernisation of the health system inserted article L. 3323-3-1 in the Public Health Code 38 . Therefore, the line drawn between authorising or prohibiting communication about wine lies where the stark objectivity constituted by the technical characteristics of the wine ends and the subjective assessment of the advertising message begins. As a result, the representation of a bottle and glasses and any reference to the colours of the wine exceed the limits imposed by law. It is a case of fortiori when the stems of the glasses touch to imitate the gesture of clinking glasses. The Court of Cassation also considered that the use of the terms “young” and “delicate” is intended to encourage a young audience to consume an alcoholic drink, whereas these words were designed to present the characteristics of a wine benefiting from a controlled designation of origin that can be consumed in satisfactory taste conditions quickly after bottling. The High Court’s position on this last point is debatable because a wine’s age and delicacy information society services, in particular electronic commerce, in the Internal Market (commonly known as Directive on electronic commerce). 37 Cass. 1st civ., 23 February 2012, no. 10-17.887, JCP G 2012, 542, note C. Lebel, Rev. Dr. rural 2012, com. 66 note F. Barthe. 38 M. Jelila, “Supervision of the advertising of alcoholic beverages, The evolution of the Evin law between hygienism and defense of the wine heritage”, Rev. Dr. rural, 2017, File 10.