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Re: Court Says Napa Wine Must Actually Come from Napa

The California state appeals court has ruled that a 2000 California

> state law is valid and that California is allowed to have stricter > labeling standards than the federal government. (New story, may require > registration: >
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> > The federal government began to define the meaning of wine growing > regions, like Napa, Sonoma, Rutherford or Carnos in the 1980s. The > federal rules say you cannot say Napa on the label, unless at least 75% > of the wine is made from grapes grown in Napa. The federal government, > however, made an exception for existing wineries that used a region > name like Napa as part of the winery name. These wineries were > grandfathered in and allowed to use Napa as part of the winery name > even when the wine was not from Napa. This included wineries like Napa > Ridge and Napa Creek. > > The Napa Ridge and Napa Creek wine labels are now owned by the Bronco > Wine Company, a big central valley wine producer. Bronco is most widely > known for its deep discount labels, like "Two Buck Chuck", and > apparently sells mostly wine from central valley grapes under the Napa > Ridge and Napa Creek wine labels. > > This offended the Napa wine growers, so in 2000 they got the California > state legislature to pass a stricter labeling law to forbid using wine > region names in the winery name unless 75% of the grapes actually came > from that region. Bronco has been fighting this law in court claiming > that California cannot set tighter labeling requirements than the > federal government and that this law violates Bronco's free speech > rights. The appeals court rejected those arguments and said the law was > valid. > > Bronco has 90 days to decide if they will appeal to the California > Supreme Court. Meanwhile they are still selling wine under the Napa > Ridge and Napa Creek labels that is not made from Napa grapes.

I'm much more offended by that than by the misappropriation of European place names.

IMO if a California wine says "Napa" anywhere on the label, it should be made from fruit grown in Napa. Period.

A European place name on a (say) California wine is an obvious nod and a wink to a style from the Old Country - sort of an homage. I don't fret about the term "California Champagne" because everybody knows exactly what that means, and is aware that the wine isn't from Champagne, but is merely made in the style of wine from Champagne. I know that really irritates the French, but AFAIC it's pretty much a non-issue anymore. Most wineries no longer do it.

OTOH, I'd expect a California wine labeled "Napa Ridge" to be from a vineyard overlooking or in the Napa Valley. The French (e.g.) are very picky about such issues within their Country, and rightfully so. They sure as hell wouldn't allow the words "Rhone" or "Burgundy" to appear on the label of a bottle whose contents came from the Midi. Neither should crappy California wine from the Central Valley be permitted to use the word "Napa" on its label.

Tom S

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Tom S
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Well, it is a brand name. You have to be careful with that. What if I start a winery in Santa Barbara and call it, say, "Santa Barbara Winery" (which really exists, of course). Do all of the grapes in that wine have to come from Santa Barbara? What if I call it "Ojai Vineyard" (which also obviously exists)? Do all the grapes have to come from Ojai? Clearly, most of Ojai Vineyard's fruit is not sourced from Ojai.

If I start a new winery and call it the "Pasadena Winery" even though I am sourcing my fruit from Rancho Cucamonga is that a problem? What if, say, 100 years from now Pasadena starts growing highly acclaimed wine grapes and the region surpasses Napa in prestige? Do I have to give up the "Pasadena Winery" name because my fruit comes not from Pasadena but from Rancho Cucamonga?

This is the same non-issue that exists, IMO, when a restaurant calls itself "Little Sicily Italian". I don't see why it's a problem.

Dimitri

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D. Gerasimatos
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D. Gerasimatos

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