The chairman of French wine merchant Raphaël Michel has been indicted on charges that he masterminded a scheme to label nearly 4 million cases of ordinary table wine as Rhône Valley wines, including Châteaunneuf-du-Pape and Côtes du Rhône. Guillaume Ryckwaert has been charged with fraud, deception and violations of consumer and tax codes. Several other company executives were taken into custody in Marseilles but released without charges. Agents of the French National Customs Judicial Service discovered the alleged scheme during a company audit in 2016. See The Times, August 4, 2017.
Tag Archives wine
Italian food producers reportedly disagree on how to define whether a food product is "made in Italy" in accordance with the country's attempt to distinguish food produced in Italy, such as parmesan cheese or prosecco, from similar foods produced outside of the country. The dispute centers on whether foods manufactured in Italy using foreign ingredients may be labeled as "Made in Italy." According to Reuters, Parmesan and prosecco producers argue against such foods receiving the rights to use the label, while pastamaker Barilla asserts that its foods are just as Italian because the company is Italian despite manufacturing about half of its pasta in plants outside of Italy. See Reuters, June 2, 2017. Issue 637
The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) has affirmed a refusal by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to register a trademark for La Finca wines on the grounds that the winemaker failed to show evidence that the brand has acquired distinctiveness. In re Finca La Celia, S.A., No. 86130560 (opinion issued March 31, 2017). Argentina-based winemaker Finca La Celia, which sells its La Finca wines in Trader Joe’s stores, applied for registration of the mark in 2013 and appealed after a second reconsideration was denied. TTAB reversed USPTO’s refusal to register the mark on the ground that it was generic, holding that even though the term “la finca,” which means “the estate” in Spanish, is “merely descriptive,” the term is “not perceived by the relevant public as a generic name for a type of wine.” TTAB affirmed the USPTO ruling that the maker had failed to show La…
John Fox, former owner of wine shop Premier Cru, has reportedly been sentenced to 6.5 years in prison after pleading guilty to wire fraud and defrauding investors out of at least $45 million. As part of the scheme, Fox sold wine to customers around the world, embezzled the money, then used newer purchasers’ money to buy and ship the wine promised to earlier purchasers, an arrangement one prosecutor called a “wine Ponzi scheme.” Fox reportedly spent the money on luxury cars, personal credit cards and gifts for women he met online. He began serving his sentence immediately. See Los Angeles Times, December 15, 2016. Issue 626
A federal grand jury has indicted Jeffry Hill of Hill Wine Co. on charges that he sold wine falsely labeled as originating from Napa Valley in California. United States v. Hill, No. 16-CR-0454 (N.D. Cal., indictment entered November 1, 2016). The indictment accuses Hill of growing grapes outside the designated Napa Valley borders and selling the grape juice, bulk wine or bottled wine as made only from Napa Valley grapes, which apparently earned him more than $1.5 million. Hill also allegedly misrepresented the varietals of grapes he sold and created fraudulent bills of lading and inventory records. The indictment asserts that Hill also concealed the true origins of the grapes from his employees by moving grapes between Hill Wine Co.’s three facilities and intercepting trucks shipping grapes to alter the paperwork indicating their origin or varietal. Hill faces eight charges of mail fraud and wire fraud. Issue 622
The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) has proposed wine labeling revisions to address concerns about the accuracy of labeling information for wines that contain more than 7-percent alcohol by volume but are exempt from label approval requirements. According to TTB, the regulations that govern wine labeling include (i) 27 CFR 24, which requires wine containers to feature “the name and address of the wine premises where bottled or packed; the brand name; the alcohol content; the kind of wine; and the net contents of the container,” and (ii) 27 CFR 4, which governs “the use of one or more grape variety names as a type designation, the use of type designations of varietal significance, the use of vintage dates, and the use of appellations of origin on wine labels,” such as the use of American viticultural area (AVA) names. Wines not intended for interstate or foreign commerce,…
Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-N.Y.) has proposed legislation that would revise the Alcoholic Beverage Control Law (Blue Laws) to modernize the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages in New York state. The new rules would also consolidate licensing and reduce “burdensome fees for wineries, breweries, distilleries and cideries statewide.” In particular, the legislation would (i) lift restrictions on Sunday morning sales of alcoholic beverages at on-premises establishes; (ii) allow the New York State Liquor Authority to consider exceptions to the “Two Hundred Foot Law” that prohibits the dispensation of full liquor licenses to establishments within 200 feet of a school or place of worship; (iii) combine craft manufacturing licenses into one application to reduce the paperwork burden on small breweries, wineries and distilleries; (iv) authorize the sale of wine in growlers and allow customers to take home unfinished bottles of wine; (v) reduce fees for craft beverage salespeople; and (vi) reduce…
Salvatore Ferragamo S.p.A. has filed a lawsuit against Ferragamo Winery and Vince Ferragamo, a former Los Angeles Rams and Green Bay Packers quarterback, for trademark infringement and dilution of the “Ferragamo” mark. Salvatore Ferragamo S.P.A. v. Ferragamo Winery, No. 16-3313 (S.D.N.Y., filed May 4, 2016). The fashion company asserts that it owns two trademarks to “Ferragamo” for use in connection with wine, which it produces at a Tuscan estate. The former football player owns and operates Ferragamo Winery in California, and the complaint argues that he and his company have ignored repeated cease-and-desist demands. Salvatore Ferragamo alleges federal trademark infringement, cybersquatting, trade dress infringement, trademark dilution and unfair competition claims, and it seeks damages, an injunction preventing further use of “Ferragamo” in regard to wine production and an order directing the winery to destroy infringing products. Issue 603
The Supreme Court of Spain has reportedly dismissed a challenge brought by the Comité Interprofessionel Du Vin de Champagne alleging that Champín, a Spanish fruit-flavored soft drink, infringes the organization’s protected-designation-of-origin rights. The organization asserted that Champín could be confused with Champagne, which may only describe sparkling wines made in that region. The court disagreed, finding that “Champín differs enough with respect to those products protected by the Champagne appellation that the phonetic similarity does not evoke the product.” See The Local, March 10, 2016. Issue 597
Refuting earlier claims that California wines allegedly contain “dangerously high” levels of arsenic, a new study has concluded that inorganic arsenic in blush, white and red California wines “does not represent a health risk for consumers.” Dennis Paustenbach, et al., “Analysis of Total Arsenic Content in California Wines and Comparison to Various Health Risk Criteria,” American Journal of Enology and Viticulture, January 2016. Using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry to characterize the arsenic content of 101 wines produced or bottled in California, the authors evidently found that blush wines contained the greatest total arsenic concentration, followed by white and then red wines. In particular, the study tested 28 wines singled out in media reports as exceeding the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s maximum contaminant level for arsenic in drinking water of 10 μg/L. But even though these wines contained more total arsenic than randomly selected products, “no more than 0.3% of…
