Napa flap
Posted on February 20th, 2008 – 9:01 AMBy Bill Ward
Just when it seemed that American wine consumers were starting to grasp the meaning of terroir, proposed federal regulations might render the term meaningless.
The revisions would allow companies from other areas to use the names of renowned wine-growing regions such as Napa and Calistoga (the northernmost part of the Napa Valley). Imagine an Iowa fish farm calling itself Mille Lacs Walleye Co., and you get the idea.
At the forefront of the fight in Napa is a native Minnesotan, Pat Stotesbury, owner of the Ladera winery and president of the board of directors of Napa Valley Vintners.
“Somehow the TTB (Tax and Trade Bureau) has missed the boat on Science 101 here,” Stoesbury said Tuesday. “It’s certainly confusing for consumers when a winery is called Calistoga Cellars and they don’t grow the grapes or make the wine in Calistoga.”
Stotesbury, whose silver hair and blue eyes give him a rather strong resemblance to a slimmer Bud Grant, is generally a genial sort, but not when it comes to this issue. His organization has no idea who is pushing the new regulations — we have not been able to see anybody’s breath on the glass,” he said – and doesn’t find disclaimers a potential compromise solution.
“Even if the disclaimer law is enacted, it will never appear on a wine list, and is likely not to appear on Internet sales,” he said. “And there’s no telling where it would even appear on the actual bottle.”
The details of the current and proposed standards are, like most federal law, complicated, often arcane and even inscrutable. Ironically, Europeans are much more stringent about such matters: Belgian authorities recently destroyed more then 3,000 bottles of wine labeled Korbel Champagne Cellars because it violated European Unio accords protecting the domaine of the Champagne region.
There’s little doubt that Stotesbury and his fellow Napa vintners toasted that move.
