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| News:
05/15/2010
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Label law seeks to strengthen county recognition
Special designation areas finally agree The value of wine, like currency, is basically in the eye of the beholder, and wine makers move heaven and earth – mostly earth – to see that their products are perceived by the buying public in the best light possible. Sonoma County growers know they produce great wines, and now their marketing groups are looking to make sure that wine origins are on every label that goes out from designated growing areas, a process known as “conjunctive labeling.” The idea is to put “Sonoma County” on all bottles of wine produced in Sonoma AVAs (American Viticultural Areas). While it’s a small enough thing to put on a label, it’s taken months of discussion and meetings with various associations, individual winemakers and AVA organizations to get the unanimous consent that is required to make this into law. And it is a very legal matter. Wine marketing can be confusing to the layman, and daunting for the producer. The names that go on a bottle of wine are carefully guarded by their proprietors to conserve their reputation and hard-earned marketing dollars. Besides the winery name – the entity that makes and bottles wine – important elements are the vineyard, the immediate growing region (like Sonoma Valley), regional designations (like Sonoma County), and even larger designations (like North Coast or California or America). Each level of identification carries a specific cachet and the people who sell wine take every step to insure that their good names are not poached.  Photo by Jay Gamel Muscardini Cellars has already started putting Sonoma County on some of its bottles. There are 10 specific growing regions, or AVAs, in Sonoma County. Three have “Sonoma” already in their names, and two of those are located in the Sonoma Valley: Sonoma Valley and Sonoma Mountain AVAs. There is also Sonoma Coast AVA. The others are Bennett Valley, Carneros, Russian River Valley (with Chalk Hill and Green Valley as sub-AVAs), Alexander Valley, Dry Creek Valley, Knights Valley, and the tenth has just been added, Rockpile in the north central part of Sonoma County, just above Lake Sonoma. When a legally defined term such as “Sonoma Valley,” or under the new proposal, “Sonoma County,” is put on a bottle, it means that at least 75 percent of the wine in that bottle comes from the legally defined area. It means a bottler in Stockton or Pahrump, Nevada, can’t put 10 percent Sonoma Valley grapes in a bottle and call it a Sonoma Valley wine. They are free to buy more than 75 percent and bottle it and use the appellation, however. Not that wine makers easily agree on anything. “It’s like herding cats,” Patianna winemaker Mike Lee said. “But this is an idea whose time is come. We should definitely do it.” Lee pointed out that there are many Federal, State and even International standards for wine labeling that have to be considered for every label put on a bottle. Fitting everything on to a good looking, expensively designed label can be a headache. Some Sonoma Valley and Sonoma Mountain winemakers who already include “Sonoma” on the label felt it was redundant, and others felt it was unnecessary because they already have enough “cachet” as it is, but eventually, all have come to agree. Mike Muscardini, a winemaker himself and president of the Sonoma Valley Vintners and Growers Association, is a strong supporter and has already put “Sonoma County” as well as “Sonoma Valley” on some, but not all of his labels, without being required to do it. “We talked about conjunctive labeling for a long time,” Muscardini said in his tasting room at Kenwood Village Shopping Center. “The SVVGA board voted unanimously to support mandatory labeling.” It’s all about marketing, Muscardini said. “Can you sell your wine for more?” Muscardini pointed out that wine growers and makers are an independent lot who hate being told what to do. “There’s no rule book for us; compliance is an individual responsibility.” “Our goal is to sell more wine produced from Sonoma County grapes,” said Nick Frey, president of the Sonoma County Winegrape Commission. “The market research led us to the clear conclusion that conjunctive labeling can help us achieve that goal.” That market research was commissioned by the Sonoma County Winegrape Commission and conducted in the fall of 2009. The study found that both core consumers and 80 percent of the trade surveyed favored adding Sonoma County to AVA designations on labels. Seventh District Assemblywoman Noreen Evan’s office is working with all interested parties to develop a bill to be introduced this year. According to information from the Sonoma County Vintners association, the legislation will be “based on the existing conjunctive labeling legislation language used by Napa Valley, Paso Robles, and Lodi. Once adopted, the new law would go into effect on Jan. 1, 2011, with a three-year phase-in period. Full adoption would occur on Jan. 1, 2014.” Email: jay@kenwoodpress.com |
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