Wine Labels: What's in a Name?

[Rebel Rose]

I'm working on a book of wine essays, and the current chapter is "Men in Black," so if anyone has any cool BATF stories, please share them!

For those of you who don't know, every single US wine label must be approved by the former Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, aka the Waco Boys. They have some interesting rules.

No profanity. But there's a legend, as yet unsubstantiated, that an Oregon producer called his wine "Bon Merde" for years before they caught on.

No misleading information. Our 2000 Merlot back label was censored because I referred to the small berries and clusters produced in a ridgetop, high elevation vineyard. Their reason? It would mislead you, the customer, into thinking the wine was produced from berries and not grapes. I won a reversal after faxing them several dictionary printouts defining grapes as a berry of the grapevine and lecturing them on the significance to our consumers--who actually drink wine--of small berries.

Our 2001 Zinfandel Port back label was censored because, although I had included all the obligatory language on Brix at harvest and resulting sugar, I mentioned that the wine was "fortified." Their reason? You, the customer, will be misled into thinking it is high in alcohol.

Our conversation went something like this:

"The label is not misleading. The wine is fortified."

"Yes, but you can't say that, because people will think it's high in alcohol."

"Well of course it's high in alcohol. It's a dessert wine!"

"It encourages the perception that the wine is excessively high in alcohol."

"But the exact alcohol is on the front label! It's always on the front label!"

"Yes, but it's misleading."

"No, it's not, because it is fortified."

"Our decision stands. We never allow the word 'fortified.'"

:fist thumping on forehead emoticon:

I'm going through yet another annoying semantic struggle now regarding one of our zins, so this is a good time for me to work on this essay!

Does anyone have any other encounters to share?

[docsconz]

I can't say that I do, although I enjoyed your post and am looking forward to others.

[jparrott]

Is there a compendium of all of the rules? We're about to submit our first round of COLAs and we haven't found one.

[adegiulio]

It took me 5 minutes of Google time to find out what "Bon Merde" meant. Now that's bon merde...

[Andre]

The gentelmen need a basic wine course and fast.

The Israeli Wine Institute is finally closing down where the head of the institute happens to be a winemaker producing stuff unfit for human consumption [which he tries to sell to you know who ].

It is nearly as bad as crossing an egyptian border with your car and the officer in charge asks you if you wish to "tip" him before the security check.

[Rebel Rose]

Is there a compendium of all of the rules?  We're about to submit our first round of COLAs and we haven't found one.

JParrot, here's a link to the Code of Federal Regulations. Click on Labeling and Advertising of Wine. I would also recommend that you save it as a file on your hard drive for handier reference.

The BATF site had clear links to this information, but now it's stored offsite and not even maintained by the TTB. The BATF also, back in the day, used to provide each new winery with a complete hardcopy manual. I guess they had to take that amenity away to support the drugs and guns section.

I recommend to all new producers that they join the Wine Institute. The cost for small wineries is less than $200 a year, and one of the services they provide is your own special label reviewer, who will go over your labels and spot problems before they arise. If the application is okay, his office is right across the street from the COLA building and he just walks the apps over. The Wine Institute also sends weekly faxes with all governmental updates, including changes in the TTB regulations. This service is MUCH more effective than spending thousands of dollars on "compliance specialists." If you need help with forms and tax reporting, ask a fellow winemaker to show you how, and pay him with a box of Niman Ranch steaks.

Good luck!

[Carolyn Tillie]

I recommend to all new producers that they join the Wine Institute. The cost for small wineries is less than $200 a year, and one of the services they provide is your own special label reviewer, who will go over your labels and spot problems before they arise. If the application is okay, his office is right across the street from the COLA building and he just walks the apps over. The Wine Institute also sends weekly faxes with all governmental updates, including changes in the TTB regulations. This service is MUCH more effective than spending thousands of dollars on "compliance specialists." If you need help with forms and tax reporting, ask a fellow winemaker to show you how, and pay him with a box of Niman Ranch steaks.

Good luck!

Unrelated to the labels, but belonging to the Institute also entitles you to a pretty fabulous deal on Federal Express. Because FedEx is promoting the shipping of wine, they made a deal with the WI where members can ship with a savings of over 40%. It is worth your $200 right there!

Sorry, I don't have any label stories -- our's is pretty generic and non-controversial. All have flown through approval with no bumps.

[Rebel Rose]

Very true, Carolyn! We enjoy our FedEx discount, and so do our customers. As you know, Fedexing something as heavy as wine can add up, but with a discount this significant it's much more affordable.

Actually, while I'm thinking about it, anyone here can visit the Wine Institute website. They have brief descriptions of each state's shipping regulations, information on where to get wine permits, a list of each wine appellation by size, information on what's required to apply for a sub-appellation, and other totally fascinating subjects.

The new director is Bobby Koch (pronounced Cook, as he likes to point out), Gdub's brother-in-law. He's interesting--charming, dynamic and a great sense of humor. With the power of the alcohol distribution lobbies aligned against us it's great to have an org like WI in our camp.

We have ongoing label headaches because we produce small releases of vineyard designate wines, and each back label contains specific information about the vineyard, microclimate, and winemaking techniques.

The current struggle involves the phrase "picked at full ripeness."

"If this is a late harvest wine you must disclose Brix and sugar and comply with all other late harvest labeling requirements."

"It's not a late harvest wine! It was picked at full ripeness! All grapes are picked at full ripeness!"

"You must disclose Brix and sugar if it was late picked."

"It wasn't late. It was great! The wine is dry. It's not even high in alcohol!"

:tearing hair emoticon:

[Rebel Rose]

Oh yeah. Just to make the frustration factor clear: we don't usually decide precisely what our releases will be until two, maybe three months before bottling when we do the final barrel tastings and blending trials. Then we write the labels, and ask the printer to prepare proofs which we can then submit to TTB. It takes them 6-8 weeks to respond. Our printer requires a minimum three week lead time.

[Peter Gatti]

You folks must remember the original label on Pine Ridge's Chenin/Viognier blend, the one with the central 'cartouche' enclosing the letters "TSIFG". Supposedly, it stood for the insider's verbal code for a hugely overperforming inexpensive wine: "This Sh** Is F****** Great!". That label lasted at least two or three vintages before someone clued them in.

Or how about the Kenwood Artist's Series label with the nude painting that was utterly rejected by the BATF in 1975, but allowed in 1997?

Or the 1993 Mouton with the 'nude' label, a few cases of which arrived in the US, to the complete consternation of the BATF, who allowed only blank labels to be shipped subsequently? This after the label design had been known for TWO YEARS in advance??

But now, Fat Bastard, Old Fart and Old Tart are just fine. I think they're somewhere between clueless and incompetent.

[Rebel Rose]

Don't forget the Clos Pegase 1998 Hommage label! $200 a bottle, and the BATF wanted to cut off the guy's pepe.

Martin & Weyrich has always done lovely labels. But one year they had to cover a nymph's breast on the Aleatico dessert wine, and on their port, they wanted to use the following quote from Shakespeare's King Henry IV, "If I had a thousand sons, the first humane principle I would teach them should be, to forswear thin potations and to addict themselves to sack."

Well of course that got nixed.

[Carolyn Tillie]

Another favorite of mine is Frog's Leap. They have some accolades in that their label has won design awards and is now in the Smithsonian.

On the back of their label, in itty-bitty letters, you will find: TFWYHF, which means "Time's fun when you're having flies"

Very funny.

[Rebel Rose]

This is not on topic, but I love their website. I think it's the best winery website, bar none, for creativity.

[Rebel Rose]

In latest news, one small winery gets slapped by the TTB (formerly BATF) for printing a biblical phrase on their corks:

Prayer Rock Vineyards Can't Use Biblical Quotes

The biblical quote, from Ecclesiastes 9:7, reads “Drink your wine with a happy heart, God approves of this.”

“Think about it,” Reustle said. “There’s no better endorsement of wine than this.”

The possibility that it might be endorsing more than wine brought trouble. The federal government said it was misleading.

In a rejection letter to Reustle, the Department of the Treasury, Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau wrote, “You may not make misleading curative or therapeutic claims on labels, or create misleading associations between the consumption of alcohol and health.

However, as the winery points out, the corks are sealed inside the bottle and covered with a foil capsule, so how can that be a "misleading claim on a label"? The article also points out that other wineries are allowed to use cork quotes from Confucious to Gandhi.