by Sophie Kevany

French group Vin & Sociéte wants to demand an update of the 1991 Evin Law governing alcohol publicity, and is currently visiting wine bodies around France to inform them of how bad the situation is. Under the current law governing alcohol advertising in France, the websites of iconic French wines such as Chateau Margaux, Latour, Lafite, Yquem and
any others, are actually illegal.

“We are in an absurd situation, we have to defend the place of wine in French society,”said Marie Christine Tarby, president of the group representing the French wine sector, speaking at the Bordeaux Wine Board (Conseil Interprofessionnel du Vin de Bordeaux, CIVB) on Monday.

As well as informing the wine profession, the dual aims of the mobilisation, explained Tarby, are to demand the government have the word ‘publicity’ legally defined, and, the Internet included as an approved medium for alcohol publicity.

Due to a French court ruling dating from November 2004, any mention of an alcoholic drink product is deemed publicity. And, since the closure of Heineken’s French website in February this year, any website that carries publicity – i.e. the name of an alcoholic product – is also illegal.

The move follows successful efforts by the French anti-alcohol lobby to have the letter of the 1991 law applied to newspapers writing about wine, and Internet sites with content relating to alcoholic drinks.