OTHER CALIFORNIA COUNTIES FOLLOW NAPA’S NAMESAKE LAW

Now that Napa vintners won their lawsuit against Bronco, six other California counties are following. Sonoma, Mendocino, Monterey, San Benito, San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara are pushing similar proposals that would require any wine label containing any of those names to be made with at least 75% grapes from that county. Current law requires that at least 75% of the grapes in a wine must come from the specific region in that wine’s title, but brands that started before July 7, 1986 are grandfathered in.

Senate Bill 1380, however, is set to change that grandfather clause and looks much like the California law passed in 2000 that was aimed solely at Napa. The main difference between the Napa law and SB 1380 is that the latter only protects county names, such as Napa County or Sonoma County. SB 1380 is currently on its way to the California state house.