CHAMPAGNE ONLY COMES FROM CHAMPAGNE, FRANCE.

It's that simple. Champagne is a unique wine produced exclusively in Champagne, France.

While there are many sparkling wines made in the world, Champagne only comes from Champagne, France. Location is integral to a wine's creation, and Champagne is an established, delimited winemaking region endowed with a specific climate, land and rich lineage that come together to make Champagne. Located 90 miles northeast of Paris, the Champagne region observes strict rules and regulations that guarantee the production of consistently high quality sparkling wine. The Champagne name is exclusively reserved for wines from Champagne by the European Union and by an increasing number of countries worldwide, including China, India, and Australia. Bottles of "California Champagne" or "American Champagne" no longer appear in wine stores in Mexico, and in 2014, Canada will follow suit.

Unfortunately, the United States still lags behind on truth-in-labeling obligations that better protect its consumers. While many quality U.S. producers use the term sparkling wine and proudly state their origin, a loophole in U.S. law allows some winemakers to label their wines "Champagne," even though they do not come from Champagne. This misleads consumers about the true origin of their wines.

U.S. consumers, however, are scrutinizing the origins of their purchases more than ever. There is an expectation that the product's label accurately reflects where it came from. That's why the ad campaign uses humor and familiar U.S. location based products to encourage consumers to take a moment and consider the authenticity of what they are buying. And if it does not sound right - like Maine lobsters from Kansas or Champagne not from Champagne - savvy U.S. consumers should respond, "Of course not."

The campaign uses light-hearted examples, but the practice of misappropriating the names of other places is a serious problem that impacts many well known names and is a growing concern in the United States. In fact U.S. regions like Maine Lobster and Napa Valley as well as others are forced to fight to protect their names, just like Champagne has been forced into this position. We are very supportive of the protection of location based names worldwide and stand with regions spanning the globe in our fight against labels that could be misleading to the consumer.