BERN, SWITZERLAND – One of the most famous drinks of 19th century Europe finally has its place at home in Switzerland, with a decision by the Federal Office for Agriculture (FOAG) Thursday 16 August to give IGP status to the names Absinthe, Fée verte and La Bleue.
IGP (indications géographiques protégées), officially known as Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) in English, is being awarded because of the “traditional character” of the three names used in the Val-de-Travers, birthplace of this eau-de-vie. The three names in French apply in all languages.
The European Union created the IGP seal in 1992 and it is used to protect the names of such agricultural products as France’s Bayonne ham and Champagne. French producers of a similar drink have been unhappy with Switzerland’s efforts to monopolize the use of the name, a situation that recalls the fight by the tiny Swiss village of Champagne to use the town’s name on their aperitif flutes, a fight they lost to the French sparkling wine industry.
The decision comes after the use of the names was open to public comment. The FOAG received 42 complaints, of which 20 came from outside the country. They included arguments that the names are generic rather than traditional in character ad that there is a conflict between the appellation for absinthe the drink and the name of the plant, as well as complaints that the new IGP is unfair to brands and product names that use homonyms.
The FOAG, after reviewing the complaints, notes that there is no doubt about the traditional nature of the use of these names. The first absinthe was commercially produced in the region, in the Jura region near the French border, in 1797. Daniel-Henri Dubied bought the rights from the Henriod family to produce their “absinthe elixir”, which they had been making on a smaller scale for some time.
The popular drink was made famous by artists, including Toulouse-Lautrec, Gaugin and Baudelaire, who raved about the mystical properties they assigned to what they called the green fairy.
It was banned in Switzerland in 1908 as pressure from abolitionists grew. By 1915 it was banned in most of Europe and the US. It then went underground until it was legalized again in 2005.
This week’s decision, which can be contested during the next 30 days, also argues that unless brands are protected under Swiss law, the name cannot be used, and that the public’s interest in having IGP protection for the product overrides any commercial arguments for continuing to use the names without meeting the new IGP requirements.
Absinthe tourism has become popular in the region, with a museum and several producers.