Lost in Translation: China, Roussillon, and Banyuls

Can you trademark a wine region as a brand? While visions of Gallo's Hearty Burgundy and Franzia's Chablis continue to gall connoisseurs around the world, we can all take solace in a recent victory for French wine in China. It seems a company, as Decanter reports, attempted to register "Roussillon" and 'Banyuls" as brands. Fortunately, China's Tribunal of Commerce and Industry is not allowing that to happen. The court also nixed the (unnamed) business' effort to label a wine with the Chinese translation for Roussillon, "Lu-Xi-Long".

Maybe France's wine appellation governing body, the INAO, buoyed by this victory, can take another swing at California "Champagne"?