Budget Champagne Sorbet Gives Aldi a Five-Year Legal Hangover

  • French Champagne producers attacked Aldi’s use of their name
  • EU court aide says final decision best made by German judges

An Aldi supermarket store in London on June 29, 2015.

Photographer: Jason Alden/Bloomberg
Lock
This article is for subscribers only.

It was only a one-time promotion, but using the name Champagne to give its Christmas sorbet a bit of fizz has given discount supermarket chain Aldi a five-year legal hangover.

Aldi may have gone too far in 2012 when it decided to sell the icy dessert laced with a 12 percent shot of the sparkling wine as “Champagner Sorbet” in Germany, an adviser to the European Union’s highest court said in a non-binding opinion Thursday.