SCOTUS speaks: Napa on the label means Napa in the bottle
Two buck Chuck maker Bronco Wine failed in its efforts to weaken the meaning of “Napa” when it’s on the wine label.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear a challenge to a California law that requires wines carrying the name “Napa” to have at least 75% of their grapes from Napa County.
The context:
In a 2000 law, California required that at least 75% of the grapes used to make wine labeled from a particular county must come from the named region. But a 1986 federal law was more generous, allowing existing wine labels to keep their names even if they didn’t meet the grape content requirement. Bronco insisted that the federal rules allowed it to use the Napa name and that the state was prohibited from establishing stricter regulations.
Bronco even tried to use free speech as an argument for its more liberal use of the Napa name. Thankfully, this failed. But while Napa fought back and won, where will the next challenge be? Any bets on Texoma?!?
tags: wine | food and drink | wine and place names | Napa | SCOTUS
