French legal tangle souring wine on web

AFP, June, 2008

BORDEAUX, France (AFP) — Lingering uncertainty over whether or not wine ads on the Internet are legal in France is angering wine professionals in Bordeaux.

"It is ridiculous not to be able to use the Internet, the law must be adapted," said Alain Vironneau, president of the Bordeaux Wine Board (the Conseil Interprofessionnel du Vin de Bordeaux, or CIVB).

"It's an extraordinary communications tool and it would be idiotic for the development of the wine business not to be able to use it."

Turmoil over wine ads on the web dates back to a court case in France last February against international beer giant Heineken, which forced it to close its French website.

The judge in the case ruled that because the Internet was not on a 1991 list of approved media...