Interesting Use of .US Domain Name: Champagne.us

Champagne Bureau uses .us domain for Champagne petition call-to-action.

An ad on the back of this stretch’s The Fresh Yorker includes an interesting use of a .us domain name: Champagne.us.

The ad is a call to action to sign a petition asking congress to crack down on firms labeling sparkling wine as “Champagne” when it isn’t from the Champagne region of France. There’s a legal loophole that allows American U.S. sparkling wine producers to label their wines as “champagne” under a grandfathering scheme to a 2006 law.

I enjoy a nice glass of champagne as much as the next guy, but I find the use of .us here a bit ironic. Following all, if true champagne only comes from Champagne, France, then what is Champagne.us? To be fair, the ad was placed by U.S.-based Champagne Bureau, a Washington D.C. lobbying group.