The sight of Russian investors perusing vineyards in the famous Cognac region of southwest France has locals suspicious of their motives and wary of their financial backers.
The chairman of the Cognac business association BNIC, Alain Philippe, has two hypotheses.
"Either the Russians are coming here to look for good business opportunities, which I have nothing against, or they want to justify the sales of false cognac on the pretext of having bought a few hectares of vineyards," he said.
Cognac is a brandy made in accordance with strict production rules, distilled over many years and produced from the vineyards surrounding the French town of Cognac.
The problem in Russia, where the market for brandy is growing fast, is that any brandy can be labeled cognac, damaging the reputation of the original French version and compromising its exclusivity.
Philippe said that about 10 cognac producers have "made a pact with the devil" by working with the Russians, whom he suspects of wanting to use the name to legitimize their fake "cognac" brandy in Russia.
His worries do not stop there.
"I am not casting aspersions, but I fear the worst, because behind this market [in Russia] there is the mafia," he said, adding that the entry of Russia in the WTO would be an opportunity to protect the cognac brand name.
Russia is the largest economy in the world that is not yet a member of the WTO, which obliges members to respect intellectual property rights, but negotiators hope the country can finally complete the process this year.
The manager of cognac producer Jenssen in Bonneuil, Epsen Schulerud Soland, stressed that the possible arrival of the mafia in the cognac-producing region was "a real threat, but that one must make a point of not confusing it with others."
Last July, the Moscow-based wine and spirits company MVZ bought a stake in Jenssen, a Norwegian-owned group, and is to complete a takeover of the company and its 24 hectares of vines by the end of this year.
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