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[LeoLeonardoIII]

And the expert tasters can be fooled - they aren't perfect.

So you have a situation where a vanishingly small minority of extremely dedicated and experienced connoisseurs are the only ones able to determine location of origin by sampling the food at a rate any higher than bare chance guessing. They maintain their mystique by refusing to acknowledge their "misses" and focusing on their "hits" while simultaneously maintaining nationalism (which should be a dirty word as bad as racism but isn't for some reason) in continuing to argue against evidence that their own country's products are better than another's. Their operation is similar to any witch doctor, mystic, psychic, shaman, priest, etc. except that rather than demanding earthly authority because of a connection to some higher power, they demand that authority on the basis of their own illusory superiority in being able to taste things.

Bullshit.

[Sonlirain]

But you could take those grapes and make Champagne somewhere else, then, couldn't you?

You can't. Champaigne made ANYWHERE BUT Champaigne (or whatever the region is called) should be called "Sparkling Wine".

Just because you can make something doesn't mean people will buy it. If people prefer the version that 'smells off, and tastes off', then well, you are shit out of luck, buddy.

Then you have a different product and should stop leeching off an existing "brand" because if you make cheese and call it gouda but it tastes NOTHING like gouda then why bother calling it gouda in the first place? Oh right you want to hook up under some existing product and hope some misinformed customer byus your thing instead of something he INTENDED to buy.
People usually buy knockoffs only because they are cheaper anyway and if someone makes terrible "gouda" out of flour and vegetable fats a customer fooled by that might never buy gouda ever again.

[LeoLeonardoIII]

Except that it's a variety of cheese, which is more like saying only one company can make bicycles and anyone else has to label them "pedal wheelers" instead.

Your post also assumes that no bad sparkling wine comes out of the Champaigne region, and that no sparkling wines made elsewhere are significantly like the sparkling wines of the Champaigne region. Which are pretty big claims to make.

EDIT:

I've realized where I'm coming from with this: I fucking hate when someone tells me what to think and what to say, and when a pissy little bastard forces everyone to scramble around at his pleasure.

If I want a bottle of champagne, that is, lowercase champagne that didn't come from the Champagne region of France, I'm still gonna call it champagne and I'm gonna expect to see the word champagne on the bottle. Fuck Champagne and fuck all the pissy bastards who want the rest of the world to conform their thoughts and speech and product labels to their desire to sell more of their local product.

There are apparently 1.3 million people in that region, and they can all just suck it. Learn to live in a world where you need to read the back of the label to find out where something actually came from.

You could argue that it's false advertising, but I don't think ANYONE believes their Swiss cheese came from Switzerland, that their Greek yogurt came from Greece. People who care look to the country of origin, the vineyard, etc. and if anything enjoy discarding an "inferior" product back to the store shelves - a wine probably all but identical to the one they spent $40 more for.

[scriver]

Once again: Outside France, the word "champagne" does not carry the meaning of "from Champagne", it just refers to any bubblified wine. This is no different than the material "suede" not carrying the meaning "from Sweden".

[XXSockXX]

Once again: Outside France, the word "champagne" does not carry the meaning of "from Champagne", it just refers to any bubblified wine.

Not true. At least in Germany, Champagner only refers to the stuff from Champagne, everything else is Sekt (sparkling wine).

[LeoLeonardoIII]

America should press for Bordeaux wine to be defined as "American-Bordeaux" because of the 1875-1892 destruction of their vineyards and subsequent grafting to imported American plants.

After intense negotiation I'd be willing to accept a change to "Bordeaux-American".

[olemars]

Interesting little detaiil from the NAFTA agreement between Canada, Mexico and the US:
http://www.sice.oas.org/trade/nafta/chap-034.asp

Annex 313: Distinctive Products

    1. Canada and Mexico shall recognize Bourbon Whiskey and Tennessee Whiskey, which is a straight Bourbon Whiskey authorized to be produced only in the State of Tennessee, as distinctive products of the United States. Accordingly, Canada and Mexico shall not permit the sale of any product as Bourbon Whiskey or Tennessee Whiskey, unless it has been manufactured in the United States in accordance with the laws and regulations of the United States governing the manufacture of Bourbon Whiskey and Tennessee Whiskey.

    2. Mexico and the United States shall recognize Canadian Whisky as a distinctive product of Canada. Accordingly, Mexico and the United States shall not permit the sale of any product as Canadian Whisky, unless it has been manufactured in Canada in accordance with the laws and regulations of Canada governing the manufacture of Canadian Whisky for consumption in Canada.

    3. Canada and the United States shall recognize Tequila and Mezcal as distinctive products of Mexico. Accordingly, Canada and the United States shall not permit the sale of any product as Tequila or Mezcal, unless it has been manufactured in Mexico in accordance with the laws and regulations of Mexico governing the manufacture of Tequila and Mezcal. This provision shall apply to Mezcal, either on the date of entry into force of this Agreement, or 90 days after the date when the official standard for this product is made obligatory by the Government of Mexico, whichever is later.

[scriver]

Once again: Outside France, the word "champagne" does not carry the meaning of "from Champagne", it just refers to any bubblified wine.

Not true. At least in Germany, Champagner only refers to the stuff from Champagne, everything else is Sekt (sparkling wine).

I said "outside of France", didn't I?

[LeoLeonardoIII]

Trademark-holders have had that problem for years. Band-Aid brand gets too successful and pretty soon every small adhesive bandage is called a band-aid - and semi-elastic strip bandages are all ace bandages even if they're not the Ace brand. Heck, we call any temporary fix for something a "band-aid". You xerox off some copies on whatever copier, you drink a coke which could be a Pepsi, you take an aspirin or shoot up heroin which wasn't made by the Bayer AG company, the dry ice in your science-fair project wasn't made by the Dry Ice Corporation of America, and your zipper wasn't made by B. F. Goodrich.

On a different note, cue Italy demanding that everyone stop calling them Venetian blinds unless they're made in Venice.

[Mictlantecuhtli]

Interesting little detaiil from the NAFTA agreement between Canada, Mexico and the US:
http://www.sice.oas.org/trade/nafta/chap-034.asp

Annex 313: Distinctive Products

    1. Canada and Mexico shall recognize Bourbon Whiskey and Tennessee Whiskey, which is a straight Bourbon Whiskey authorized to be produced only in the State of Tennessee, as distinctive products of the United States. Accordingly, Canada and Mexico shall not permit the sale of any product as Bourbon Whiskey or Tennessee Whiskey, unless it has been manufactured in the United States in accordance with the laws and regulations of the United States governing the manufacture of Bourbon Whiskey and Tennessee Whiskey.

    2. Mexico and the United States shall recognize Canadian Whisky as a distinctive product of Canada. Accordingly, Mexico and the United States shall not permit the sale of any product as Canadian Whisky, unless it has been manufactured in Canada in accordance with the laws and regulations of Canada governing the manufacture of Canadian Whisky for consumption in Canada.

    3. Canada and the United States shall recognize Tequila and Mezcal as distinctive products of Mexico. Accordingly, Canada and the United States shall not permit the sale of any product as Tequila or Mezcal, unless it has been manufactured in Mexico in accordance with the laws and regulations of Mexico governing the manufacture of Tequila and Mezcal. This provision shall apply to Mezcal, either on the date of entry into force of this Agreement, or 90 days after the date when the official standard for this product is made obligatory by the Government of Mexico, whichever is later.

I enjoy this post. Anyone care to explain why products such as these get protections and not others..?

[Andrew425]

Because the words haven't been used as generic in another part of the world for the past hundred years?

Feta is just a style of cheese. You can make them in anywhere in the world as they have been for a while now.

[LeoLeonardoIII]

It's kinda like how I live next to the state of Idaho, and Idaho has these potatoes. I guess they have other agriculture? Anyway, Idaho Potatoes are a big thing. But you know what? They're just fucking potatoes.

[Darvi]

But you know what? They're just fucking potatoes.

Damn you to a very unpleasant place, brain.

[Frumple]

Man, as much as I'd like to say that's all there is to idaho potatoes, they're definitely not just potatoes. I've had a lot of freaking potatoes in my life, of many sorts from home grown to from other bloody continents, and there is definitely a level of quality and type difference between idaho and "just" potatoes. Mind you, there's other potatoes just as good (new potatoes are a food of the gods), and there's nothing really stopping local stuff from matching it (beyond quality control and methodology, anyway) and -- no doubt -- you get idaho potatoes that aren't very impressive. But they definitely trend toward a particular sort of spud, that's notably different from other sorts of spud.

As much as I often joke that cheese is cheese is cheese, the reality of the matter is there is very different sorts of cheese. There are also many varieties of potato.

[LeoLeonardoIII]

Oh sure there are different varieties. I hate Red Delicious apples because they're acrid and the skin is thick and gross, and prefer Cripps Pink, Fuji, or Gala. But apples grown in California are just as good as apples grown in Washington. I know I can't tell the difference between a specific potato variety that was grown in Oregon vs. the same variety grown in Washington. If I write a restaurant menu and say these are Sardinian olives, you're gonna think they're the absolute best shit, even though they're just regular olives and I happened to look on the side of the can and it says they were produced in Sardinia. People think the food tastes better in a nice room vs. a crappy room even if the food for both was cooked in the same kitchen. An employer will think you're more capable of doing good work at a desk job if you show up to the interview wearing the right clothes.