From The Economist:
LIKE champagne, tequila may be called tequila only if it comes from a specific region. Distillers in five of Mexico’s 31 states have the exclusive right to produce the famous firewater. Bottlers elsewhere must use alternative names, though their product is distilled in the same way from the sap of the agave, a spiky desert succulent often wrongly referred to as a cactus.
Demand for tequila is growing fast. Americans now drink more of the stuff than Mexicans—a head-throbbing 120m litres a year. Producers outside the official tequila region are cashing in. The “agave liquor” they sell is cheaper than real tequila and tastes identical, at least to the barbarian gringo palate.
Traditional tequileros hate to see others crashing what they see as their party. So a proposal sponsored by the National Chamber of the Tequila Industry would ban distillers outside the five-state boundary from using the word “agave” to describe their drinks. The proposal has won the support of Mexico’s intellectual-property agency, IMPI.
Agave-lovers think this a bit unreasonable. “Agave” is the name of a plant, not a product. It is as if the Champagne region were to try to ban others from using the word “grape” or the butchers of Parma were to claim the word “ham”. A letter from 343 experts, from biologists to sociologists, expressed “forthright opposition” to the proposal.
