Protecting Napa Name
Napa Valley Vintners Work to Protect the Appellation
Trade Association Leads State, Federal and International Efforts
Perhaps the most recognizable win for the Napa Valley Vintners (NVV) came in January 2006 when the US Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal brought by the Bronco Wine Company of a decision made by California's Supreme Court to uphold California's truth in wine labeling law SB25241 that requires a wine with a Napa place name on the label to have at least seventy-five percent of its fruit be from the appellation. In a separate agreement with the NVV, Bronco agreed to sell off offending wine by September 2006 and that future bottlings of its brands, including Napa Ridge and Napa Creek would follow the ruling.
Consumers understand and expect truth in wine labeling, but why was the Bronco case such a red flag for the Napa wine industry? The wine company had permits to produce as many as 16 million cases of wine using those brand names, with no fruit from Napa in the bottle. Napa Valley's vineyards produce just about 8.5 million cases annually and accounts for only four percent of California's grape harvest. Though America's most widely recognized name in wine, Napa is a small producer known for high quality. Bronco's position of trading on Napa's reputation for quality, and not delivering on the promise, posed a threat to the viability of the region's industry.
Though this is the most high-profile of the cases, the NVV works on Napa name protection issues year-round. There are currently nearly forty brands around the world from Europe to China that seek to use Napa in their branding while not being produced with grapes from Napa. The NVV works to stop these brands from trading fraudulently on Napa's name. In March of this year a contingent of vintners comprised of past and present members of the NVV Board of Directors traveled to Washington, DC to lobby congress, the administration and foreign delegations on behalf of the Napa wine industry. They met with the influential Congressional Wine Caucus which is led by local Congressman Mike Thompson (D) St Helena, as well as the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO), the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), the Department of Treasury, the US Trade Representative (USTR), the Chinese Embassy and the European Union Mission.
Protection of wine place names is a world-wide issue and the vintners were also in the nation's capital to join forces with other wine growing regions across the globe for the signing of the second phase of the Joint Declaration to Protect Wine Place & Origin. The original signers of the agreement, Napa Valley, Oregon, Washington state, Walla Walla Valley, Champagne, Porto and Sherry (Jerez), welcomed the regions of Sonoma County and Paso Robles (US), Western Australia and Victoria (AU), Tokaj (Hungary) and Chianti Classico (Italy) to the group. The original signing took place in July 2005 in Napa. With the original seven regions and six new additions, the group has nearly doubled in size. After a press conference, the regions hosted a tasting in the Canon Caucus Room in the Capitol.
Though this Declaration is about these regions coming together to educate consumers, trade, policymakers and influencers, the momentum for place protection is gathering. For example, Napa's successful conclusion of the Bronco case; the Sonoma name-protection bill signed into law in CA last year; and Paso Robles seeking legislation for conjunctive labeling modeled after the 1989 Napa law. On the European stage, Napa Valley will soon be officially recognized with Geographic Indication (GI) in wine labeling status, thereby protecting the Napa name in the EU. This will be the first time a wine region outside a member state of the EU will be protected, a landmark decision in Europe. An official announcement will come from the EU in the next few weeks.
"Protecting the Napa Valley Appellation as a winegrowing region second to none in the world" is the stated mission of the association and through these lobbying, educational and outreach campaigns, the sustainability of Napa's wine industry is being accomplished in a very competitive world market.