Eye-catching bottle attracts copycats

“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”, as Charles Caleb Colton said, and the gilded livery of Bottega Gold is somehow proud of having inspired several producers of Prosecco, Champagne and Cognac.

The eye-catching bottle, a brilliant intuition of Sandro Bottega which, after long and thorough research, led to the perfection of a technique that embeds the metallization in the exterior layer of the glass. Bottega has always focused on research and innovation, both in terms of the quality of its products and its packaging development. Major investments resulted in this product that stands the heavy friction of the bottling line, retaining its lustre.

Released in 2005, Bottega Gold – a Prosecco DOC sparkling wine – is now one of the symbols of the company. Along with the fame, frequent attempts at falsification have arrived; finally, as a result of numerous imitations and unfair competition lead by competitors in the field of wine and spirits, Bottega has decided to protect the copyrights of its ideas. Following the recognition of three-dimensional Community trade mark which reproduces the embossed letter "B" on the gilded bottles of sparkling wine, Bottega has deposited a series of lawsuits against countless imitations. As a result, a seizure of approximately 40,000 bottles of wine characterised by a packaging very similar to the patented one, occurred last week in the province of Treviso, Italy.

Other Bottega products have been counterfeited, too: Alexander “Grappa Spray” in Brazil, Alexander “Grappa Platinum” in France, “Il Vino dell’Amore Petalo Moscato” in China. In 2013 and 2014, two different trials have pronounced two Italian companies from Piedmont and Lombardy guilty of breaching the copyright laws.

9 December 2014 - Felicity Murray The Drinks Report, editor