I have been following the .Wine/ .Vin issue for what seems like years now.
I get why Wine makers from Napa and France and Italy and Germany are concerned about the .Wine New gTLD and .Vin New gTLD.
Like any other business on earth, the new gTLD program has the potential to verticalize the internet providing a new gTLD for each business sector, class of products, professions or services.
Having said that the some in the Wine industry is seeking to make the granting of a .Wine and or .Vin new gTLD into an international incident today after France said it may threaten talks on the much larger transatlantic trade deal.
France has been particular vocal that some may use the new gTLD’s domains under .Wine or .Vin to mislead consumers on products like Champagne which France says can only be Champagne if it comes from that certain region in France .
As someone who had a very short lived career as a bottle turner for Taittinger in Reims, I understand that France thinks its the only place where Champagne is made and everywhere else the same product is just sparking Wine.
Likewise the Napa wine growers have been up in arms for a long time over someone other than there association or a member having control over domains like Napa.Wine.
So I understand all of the concern but still have no idea of why Wine should be treated differently than anything else on the planet.
ICANN has carved out certain privileges for organizations like the Red Cross and Olympics but they arguably are non-profit global organizations.
Wine is not.
Wine is just another product produced around the world.
It sucks that no one in the Wine business including the world’s largest producers or one of their trade organizations didn’t apply for .Wine and/or .Vin but they didn’t.
Debeers.com, which regulates, what some would say controls the world’s Diamonds market, didn’t apply for .Diamonds didn’t try to block its delegation.
The French economy may generate as much money in the clothing and fashion business as the Wine business but no one from the industry applied for the new gTLD’s .clothing or .fashion which were delegated without any fight.
I understand that some types of Wine are only grown in certain regions like Bordeaux wine only is “real’ Bordeaux is it comes from that certain region of France.
There is nothing in the new gTLD program that says all other rules of law are thrown out.
If some company represents they are selling Bordeaux wine and that wine doesn’t come from that region of France I assume complaints could be made to Federal agencies like in the the FTC for false or misleading advertising, regardless whether the company passing off “fake” Champagne or Bordeaux wine the trade associations, governments and other rights holders would have the same grounds to go after the company whether they are selling the “fake’ stuff on domains like Real-Cheap-French-champagne .com or CheapChampagne.wine
In a letter from the Napa Valley Vintners sent to ICANN last August we noted that Mr. Cakebread writing on behalf of the association told ICANN in part:
It may not be justifiable, but is it surprising?
Wine is about prestige as much as product. If it were sold simply as alcoholic grape juice, then its economic value would be decimated.
Prestige is largely imaginary. Maintaining prestige does require some anti-competitive or anti-democratic efforts. At the very least, it requires some posturing to emphasize the difference between high-class brands and low-class knockoffs. Without such efforts, without — dare I say it? — some outraged snobbery now and then, prestige products and prestige industries will suffer financially.
Nationalism or regional pride are also mixed up in wine brands, as you point out. Wines named after regions of France will involve emotions different from clothing brands named after designer surnames. So this is really somewhat similar to the nationalistic furor surrounding the .PERSIANGULF extension.
Domains and TLDs are frequently about perceived legitimacy.
It’s a territorial battle. Reactions would be similar if the question were redrawing France’s borders on a map. Issuing a .VIN or a .PERSIANGULF will involve political sensitivities as well as economic interests.
In Europe, wine, cheese and other special foods receive protected designation of origin. The US has been lagging behind in adopting or acknowledging some of these designations, while the European Union has more or less set uniform rules for the products that originate within the Eurozone.
However, extending that protection to gTLDs and domain names is a bit absurd. Don’t forget the .Spa case as well, where the city of Spa demanded ransom, essentially, to allow for the application to go through.
Michael, I just read your article and I think that I am going to cry all day
😉
As I wish to remain neutral here, there is one part of your article that I like quite a lot, it is the part mentioning “Bordeaux”. Whatever happens to .WINE and .VIN, it is important to know that the city of Bordeaux could apply for .BORDEAUX and consider Round 2 as “the best opportunity in the world” for the BORDEAUX Geographical Indication to demonstrate its capacity to protect Bordeaux wines with the CIVB (in charge of the Bordeaux wines).