Salut/Hi Leo Bueno,

le/on Mon, 23 Aug 2004 14:32:20 GMT, tu disais/you said:-


I remember a couple of decades ago that many California wines (bulk
and cheap ones come to mind) were labeled as "Chablis", "Burgundy",
"Beaujolais" or "Gamay Beaujolais", etc.

This practice has stopped, I suspect in part due to political pressure
from France (yes, the same folk who were annoyed by "Goats Do Roam").

I think your language is a little tendentious here. International trade, it
seems to me needs some kind of mutual respect and discipline. It's not just
France which dislikes wine region names being used as if they were
descriptive of a type of wine. Portugal, takes a dim view of "Port" and
Madeira being treated in that way, Spain with Sherry.

Trade goes both ways, if the USA wants to export to Europe (and I'm not
talking about exporting "Burgandy" or Chablees", but computer parts and
programs), then it should take part in the GATT talks and respect their
findings. Perhaps I'm wrong, and I most sincerely hope I am, but I sometimes
get the feeling that some Americans think that USA companies should be able
to do whatever they want in international trade, because they are bigger and
better armed than their partners. At the moment, we're in the middle of
quite a serious trade war between Europe and the USA, though it may be that
your newspapers and TV news reports have failed to tell you about it.
--
All the Best
Ian Hoare
http://www.souvigne.com
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