PARIS, July 6. /TASS/. Moet Hennessy is assessing and studying new Russian wine-making legislation, head of the company’s press service Anne Catherine Grimal told TASS on Tuesday.
"We are suspending our supplies [to Russia] for review of new legislation and its implications for French producers," she said. "We are in the course of the assessment and review process. It is difficult to add anything else to that at the moment," Grimal added, without detailing the timeframe of this process and the restart of deliveries to Russia.
RBC reported earlier that Moet Hennessy sent a letter to its Russian partners, notifying them about the intent to halt champagne supplies to Russia for an indefinite period because of the new law, whereby the company has to change the product marking and category from champagne to sparkling wines. Bloomberg said, later on, citing the company, that Moet Hennessy agreed to use the designation of "sparkling wine" for deliveries to Russia and that supplies would restart soon in line with the amendments to Russian legislation.
On July 2, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law previously adopted by the State Duma and approved by the Federation Council, which defines the specifics of the production and turnover of wine products in Russia. The amendments, in particular, state that "the use of a geographical indication and the name of the place of the goods’ origin in relation to wine products is carried out within the framework of the Russian national system" in accordance with the legislation on winemaking. At the same time, the 1995 law of state regulation of alcoholic drinks turnover was amended, whereby the words "sparkling wine (champagne)" were replaced by "sparkling wine, including Russian champagne."