Napa Labeling Law Leads Other Wine Counties to Push for Similar Rule

Sonoma, Mendocino and other California regions want to ensure that wine brands bearing their names are made within their borders

Tim Fish
Posted: May 11, 2006

Now that Napa has succeeded in restricting the use of the word "Napa" in wine brand names, other California counties want in on the action. Growers and wineries in six California counties--Sonoma, Mendocino, Monterey, San Benito, San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara--are backing proposed legislation that would require any wine brand containing the name of any of those counties to be made with at least 75 percent grapes from that county.

Senate Bill 1380, introduced in February by Sen. Wesley Chesbro (D), is now making its way through the California state house. Current federal law requires that at least 75 percent of the grapes in a wine with a geographic brand name must come from the referenced region, but older brands started prior to July 7, 1986 are grandfathered in. For example, Sonoma Creek, which was founded in 1986, currently can have little or no Sonoma County grapes in the bottle; the new bill would take away that privilege. "If the brand value of a region gets eroded, you can lose big time," said Nick Frey, executive director of the Sonoma County Grape Growers Association, one of the supporters of the bill.

The bill is similar to a California law passed in 2000 that was aimed solely at Napa. Bronco Wine Co., producer of Charles Shaw (better known as Two-Buck Chuck) and brands such as Napa Ridge, Napa Creek and Rutherford Vintners, sought to fight that law, but the U.S. Supreme Court turned down the company's final appeal in January. Bronco agreed to a settlement earlier this month, under which it will produce the aforementioned three brands only if the wines qualify to carry the Napa appellation, meaning that they contain at least 75 percent Napa grapes.

There is one major difference, however, between the new bill and the Napa law, which included American Viticultural Areas within Napa County, such as Rutherford. SB1380, on the other hand, covers only county names, since Sonoma County hasn't experienced abuse of its AVA names within Sonoma, such as Russian River. Frey said the association's support of the bill is part of a larger campaign to better promote Sonoma County.

Historically, Sonoma has spent significantly less to promote itself (roughly $500,000 per year, according to published reports) compared with other major wine regions around the country, and many of the growers and wineries in Sonoma AVAs--such as Sonoma Valley and Dry Creek Valley--do not cooperate with the county effort. "Napa has put out a more cohesive message," Frey said. As a result, growers will vote later this month on a proposed tax of 0.5 percent of all grape sales in the county in an effort to raise as much as $2 million annually to promote Sonoma County. "We hope to work more cooperatively with the different AVAs and tourism bureaus than we have in the past," Frey added.

The bill is scheduled for a hearing this week and is expected to come up for a final vote some time this summer. If it passes and is signed by the governor, it would become law on Jan. 1, 2007.