> German brewers protect their reputations with Reinheitsgebot, a series of purity laws first drawn up 500 years ago, and Champagne makers prohibit most vineyards outside their turf from using the name. This is codified in EU law as Protected Designation of Origin: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geographical_indications_and_t... Parmesan is protected by it, as are lots of other cheeses. Parmesan-alikes are sold under…
The US doesn't participate in the protection of geographical names because it reduces competitiveness of local industries. For better or worse, these names have become generic, a wine maker can't be expected to write "a bubbly wine made in the style of the champagne region, made from grapes bred in the region", you just write champagne on the bottle and don't export to the EU. Also, most of our placenamed foods are n…
Meanwhile, several alternatives have had success with their own name, such as Cava.