Wine Law

328 WINE LAW do not take into account the olfactory and taste characteristics of Cabernet d’Anjou ; remember the celebrated Angevin sweetness sung by the poet 39 ? For a long time, wine advertising could only include objective references. No other kind of representation relating to wine was authorised, including advertising focusing on the riches of a wine-growing region present in collective advertising. In the eyes of the Court of Cassation, such communication was, in fact, an advertisement because it constituted a commercial transaction between the winegrowers and the advertising company. Accordingly, wine intended for sale could only be presented backed by a series of neutral and stark “references”, which would ultimately be nothing more than a basic barcode, at best “copied and pasted” onto the wine bottle label. Any other manner of wine presentation constituted a representation of an illegal alcoholic drink according to the Court of Cassation, which endorsed the ANPAA’s arguments. “ Dura lex sed lex ” was the comment 40 on the Judgment of 23 February 2012, recalling this decision. However, the Judgment of 1 July 2015 41 , amending the conditions of the application of the rule modified in 2005, has been interpreted differently, thus making it possible to produce a collective advertisement on a wine-growing region without having to adhere to the authorised captions on the labels of the bottles of wine. II.2. The exceptions: information on the terroir and the objective qualities of the wine The rule set out in 1991 was extended in 1994 to generalise the communication ban initially limited to the wine-growing area. Then, because of the 2005 French winegrowers’ crisis, Law no. 2005-157 of 23 February 2005 relating to the development of rural territories amended Article L.3323-4(2) of the Public Health Code. Nevertheless, far from corresponding to the major reform announced, the modifications were, in reality, a simple legalisation of the solutions set out in the case-law 42 . In fact, professionals in the wine sector and elected representatives of the wine-growing areas wanted to have better communication on wine in order to educate younger consumers, without encouraging them to drink alcoholic beverages. Among the grievances expressed 39 C. Lebel, “Wine and advertising: is marriage possible? note under Cass. 1st civ., 22 May 2008, n ° 07- 14.984”, Rev. Dr. rural, 2009, comm. 20. 40 F. Barthe, cited above. 41 Rendered in the same case: dismissing the appeal against CA Versailles, 3 April 2014, returned on referral after cassation Cass. 1st civ., 23 February 2012, no. 10-17.887, cited above. 42 D. Boyer, cited above.