A South Island brewery has been warned to stop comparing its beer to Champagne by the guardians of the sparkling French wine.
Moa Beer, based in Marlborough, has been sent a formal warning which demands that it delete two references to the Champagne name on the brewery's website. The letter was sent by the director-general of Comite Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne, the body which represents Champagne wine producers in the northeast of France.
On Moa's website, founder Josh Scott compares the consumption of the company's Breakfast Beer to drinking Champagne at breakfast.
The company also refers to the fact the beer is bottle-fermented, "like they do with Champagne".
Director-general Jean-Luc Barbier wrote that the name Champagne was protected by national laws and trans-border regulations.