‘Legal issue’ delays disgorgement date labelling

Veuve Clicquot is planning to provide consumers with information on its base blends, dosages and disgorgement dates for all its Champagnes via a QR code, that is, if it can overcome the legalities.

Speaking in London yesterday during a comparative tasting of Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label aged in bottles and magnums, senior winemaker at the house, Cyril Brun, said that the Champagne brand was hoping to apply the codes to bottles of its Cave Privée vintage release later this year, and La Grande Dame and the rest of the range by 2015.

The code, when captured by a smartphone, will take consumers to a web page explaining all the winemaking details for that particular bottle, saving the Champagne from placing them on the label, and potentially confusing shoppers with numeric information.

Veuve Clicquot would apply the codes immediately to its flagship Yellow Label Brut NV if it weren’t for a “legal issue” in France, where it’s feared children might use the codes to access information on the alcoholic product, according to Brun.

“That’s why we are delayed,” he said, remarking that the market was now ready to receive detailed information on the winemaking specifics for Veuve Clicquot.

“There is a good understanding of dosage and disgorgement dates, and a lot of people are now asking for information,” he recorded.

However, he stressed, “It is the legal issue that is holding us back.”