Wines & Vines

16 WINES&VINES Collector's Edition WINE INDUSTRY NEWS C opper Cane Wines & Provisions of Ruther- ford, Calif., agreed in November to discon- tinue its current labels for the El- ouan and Willametter Journal brands after it was accused of mis- leading labeling by Oregon vint- ners, the Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLLC) and the Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) of the U.S. Department of the Treasury. The fast-growing Pinot Noir wine brands are produced and bottled in California from grapes grown in Oregon. The labels had been approved previously by the TTB, but were rejected after pro- tests from Oregonians, including Oregon State Representative David Gomberg and Jim Bernau, the board chairman and presi- dent of 125,000-case Willamette Valley Vineyards. At press time, Copper Cane's vice president of operations, Jim Blumling, told Wines & Vines that the company voluntarily "surren- dered" nine certificates of label approval (COLAs) including those involved in the dispute, and has gotten approval for new labels with revised wording to be used when bottling resumes in January. In the meantime, officials gave Copper Cane a "use up" provision to sell the remaining 76,000 cases of Pinot Noir with the old labels. Copper Cane's annual produc- tion is 300,000 cases, according to Wines Vines Analytics, and its average bottle price is $21. "Our expectation is that come January when we bottle, we will use the added rigor in terms of labeling that will meet the TTB's expectation," he said. Oregon objections Oregon winemakers became vocal about Copper Cane's labels earlier this year. The protests ramped up during the harvest season at the same time that some Oregon growers grumbled that Copper Cane had refused to buy con- tracted grapes, citing smoke dam- age from wildfires. State Representative Gomberg made a great issue of the use of "fanciful" terminology such as "Oregon Territory" and "Oregon Coast" monikers on the Copper Cane labels, which he said were either archaic or non-existent, and certainly not regulated ap- pellation names. This added to the potential for consumer confu- sion, he said. Bernau of Willamette Valley Vineyards has protested publicly that the Copper Cane wines will diminish the reputation of Oregon wines in general and Willamette Valley wines specifically. He said that Copper Cane owner Joe Wag- ner, whose family founded Cay- mus Vineyards in Napa Valley and created the best-selling Meomi California Pinot Noir brand, is making wines that are darker, more powerful and less varietally correct than the style established by Oregon winemakers in the past 40 years. But what made it a regulatory question, was Copper Cane's use of wording that stated or implied the wines represented individual AVAs instead of being the state- wide blends that they are Earlier the OLCC had de- clared that Copper Cane had committed seven violations in labeling and threatened to pro- hibit sales of the wine in Oregon, where less than 10% of Elouan's 100,000-case-plus production is sold. Blumling accompanied Wagner for a meeting with the OLCC, after which it confirmed that Copper Cane remained le- gally licensed and allowed to sell in Oregon, Blumling said. It's the TTB's responsibility to see that wine labels meet all the labeling requirements of the fed- eral government including proper use of state and county appella- tions and individual American Viticultural Areas. "But you've got to realize that they can go back and look again," said Napa, Calif.,based attorney Richard Mendelson, who has advised win- eries on legal issues in labeling for decades. "Anybody has the right to question a COLA." He added that the TTB's main objective in issuing COLAs is to ensure that they are truthful and not misleading. That was one of the arguments by members of the Oregon industry. The labels for Elouan and Willametter Journal wines included place names such as Willamette, Rogue and Umpqua that are the same or similar to in- dividual Oregon AVAs. When AVAs can be used But since the wines were pro- duced and bottled in California, the TTB doesn't allow them to be identified by the AVA names, only by the broader Oregon appella- tion. This is a provision only for contiguous states. Other California-owned wine companies such as Jackson Family Wines have bought or built winer- ies in Oregon for quality control reasons and so that the wines they make from Oregon-grown grapes can legally carry the AVA names on the packaging. The Jackson-owned Siduri winery labeled its 2015 Pinot Noir as Zena Crown Vineyard, Eola- Amity Hills, Oregon, produced and bottled by Siduri Wines in Yamhill, Ore. WALT wines, based in St. Hel- ena, Calif., has taken another ap- proach, buying Oregon Pinot Noir grapes, making the wine in Cali- fornia, labeling it as an Oregon wine and also adding an individual vineyard designation, which is not regulated by law. For instance, WALT's 2015 Oregon Pinot Noir front label states Shea Vineyard, which is in the Yamhill Carlton AVA and the Willamette Valley AVA, but makes no mention of those. Out-of-state specialist One winery whose business plan is founded on using out-of-state grapes is Cooper's Hawk, based in Woodbridge, Ill. The 700,000- case winery buys grapes, must and bulk wine mostly from Cali- fornia but does most of the pro- duction and bottling at its new winery in Illinois. "Our entire portfolio except for some imported, bottled wines, is appellated American and non- vintage," said Ben Hummer, senior vice president of operations and winemaking. "It's really just to give our winemaking team the best opportunities to hit a specific wine profile." Hummer said that Cooper's Hawk has never made a Pinot Noir from Oregon grapes, but he comes from Washington State and worked in Walla Walla, Wash., for Precept Wines. He said he under- stands the response to Elouan's labeling transgressions. "What I know about the Oregon wine industry as a whole is they have a tremendous amount of pride, especially in Willamette Val- ley Pinot Noir," Hummer said. "Coming from the Northwest, I defi- nitely understand why they would have concerns about protecting the reputation of their region." —Jim Gordon TOP STORY Officials Say Elouan Oregon Labels Misleading Geographic wording on Elouan labels was ruled misleading.

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