Moët Hennessy; champagne
Moët Hennessy reportedly cancelled deliveries to Russia to make changes to product labels. Credit: Nico Jacobs / Unsplash.

LVMH’s wine and spirits division Moët Hennessy has reportedly agreed to add a ‘sparkling wine’ label to champagne products that will be exported to Russia to conform to the new regulation.

The new law signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin last week barred companies from applying the word ‘champagne’ to their products. The word can only be applied to wine that is produced in Russia.

The law made it mandatory for all non-Russian sparkling wine producers to describe their product as such on the label on the back of the bottle.

With this new law, many of the sparkling wine producers globally had to suspend their deliveries to the country in order to incorporate the new changes, Reuters reported.

Currently, Moët Hennessy exports champagnes such as Moet & Chandon, Veuve Clicquot and Dom Perignon that are part of the LVMH group.

Moet Hennessy said that it had to cancel deliveries of these brands to change its labels.

In an emailed statement to Reuters, Moët Hennessy said: “The MH Champagne Maisons have always respected the legislation in force wherever they operate and will resume deliveries as quickly as possible once these adjustments are made.”

However, makers of Russian ‘shampanskoye’ may continue to use that term alone.

In February, Moët Hennessy acquired 50% of entrepreneur Shawn JAY-Z Carter’s champagne brand Armand de Brignac.

Since 2006, Armand de Brignac has established its presence in the champagne category and is sold in North America, Asia and Europe.

In addition to the 50% stake acquisition in the Armand de Brignac, the two parties also forged a global distribution agreement.