Wine Law

representation of a bottle and glasses, as well as any reference to the colours of the wine, exceeds 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 position of the High Court on this last point is debatable because the age and delicacy of a wine does not take into account the olfactory and taste characteristics of Cabernet d’Anjou. Remember the celebrated Angevin sweetness sung by the poet 40 ? 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 wine growers and the advertising company. Consequently, wine intended for sale could only be presented backed by a series of neutral and stark "references" and would ultimately be nothing more than a basic barcode, at best "cut 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 41 on the judgment of 23 February 2012, recalling this decision. However, a judgment on 1 July 2015 42 amending the conditions of the application of the rule modified in 2005 is interpreted differently, thus making is 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. 40 Ch. 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 41 F. Barthe, cited above. 42 Rendered in the same case: dismissing the appeal against CA Versailles, 3 Apr. 2014, returned on referral after cassation Cass. 1st civ., 23 Feb. 2012, n ° 10-17.887, cited above.