News & Commentary

A wine label is a regulated legal document. Before the bottle reaches a distributor, every claim on that label has passed through a federal approval process. After the bottle reaches the market, every claim remains subject to state civil liability, competitor challenges, and trademark law.

California produces more than 80 percent of all wine made in the United States, and the legal disputes that arise from how that wine is labeled, branded, and marketed reflect both the scale of the industry and the complexity of the law that governs it.

A Federal COLA Does Not Shield a Winery From Civil Liability

Every wine label sold in interstate commerce requires a Certificate of Label Approval (COLA) from the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau before it can be used commercially. The TTB reviews labels for compliance with federal standards covering appellations, varietal claims, alcohol content, and health warnings, among other requirements.

What a COLA does not provide is immunity from civil claims. The TTB’s approval means the label passed the agency’s review at the time of submission. It does not mean the label is truthful, non-misleading, or non-infringing under California law or the federal Lanham Act.

Appellation of Origin Claims and the Legal Risk of False Geographic Labels

An appellation of origin identifies the geographic source of a wine’s grapes. Under federal regulations, a wine may only display an American Viticultural Area designation if at least 85 percent of the grapes were grown within that AVA. For California appellation claims, the threshold is 100 percent.

California’s Central Coast, Santa Barbara County, Sta. Rita Hills and other regional AVAs carry genuine market value. Consumers pay premium prices for wines from these designations, and producers within those regions have built their reputations around geographic authenticity.

When a wine falsely claims an AVA or uses geographic language designed to imply an origin it cannot support, the harm to legitimate regional producers is direct and measurable.

A false appellation claim exposes the winery to TTB enforcement action and potential label revocation. It can also support a civil lawsuit from a competitor whose market position is harmed by the misleading geographic claim, brought under California’s unfair competition law or the federal Lanham Act’s false advertising provisions.

Varietal and Vintage Labeling: The Requirements Many Producers Underestimate

Federal regulations require that a wine labeled with a varietal name must contain at least 75 percent of that grape variety. A wine labeled “Pinot Noir” that is 50 percent Pinot Noir and 50 percent other grapes violates federal labeling law.

Vintage dating similarly requires that at least 95 percent of the wine was produced from grapes harvested in the stated vintage year, when an AVA is claimed.

These requirements sound straightforward, but create real compliance problems in practice, particularly for wineries blending across multiple lots, purchasing grapes from multiple sources, or working under custom crush arrangements where documentation is not consistently maintained.

When a competitor, distributor, or state enforcement agency discovers a varietal or vintage claim that cannot be substantiated by grape sourcing records, the resulting dispute can move quickly from a compliance issue to litigation.

False Awards, Medal Claims, and Sustainability Representations

Competition medals and sustainability certifications have become significant marketing tools in the wine industry. Both are also a source of legal exposure when they are misrepresented.

A winery that displays a gold medal from a competition it did not enter, exaggerates the significance of an award it did receive, or implies a certification it has not obtained is making a false statement in commerce.

Under California Business and Professions Code § 17500, any person who makes or disseminates a false or misleading statement to sell a product commits a violation, regardless of whether the statement appears in advertising, on the label itself, or on a shelf talker.

Environmental and sustainability claims carry an additional regulatory overlay. The FTC’s Green Guides govern the use of terms like “sustainable,” “eco-friendly,” and “natural,” and California has its own standards for organic claims. Wineries that make environmental representations without the underlying certification or practices to support them face both regulatory and civil exposure.

Trade Dress and the Line Between Inspiration and Infringement

Wine label design is protectable as trade dress under both federal and California law. When one producer’s label design is so similar to another’s that consumers are likely to be confused about the wine’s source, the copying winery may face a trade dress infringement claim.

Trade dress protection in the wine industry covers the overall visual impression of a label, including color schemes, font choices, graphic elements, and layout. It is not required that every individual element be identical. The test is whether the overall commercial impression of the allegedly infringing label creates a likelihood of confusion with the established brand.

California Business and Professions Code § 17200 and § 17500 in Wine Label Disputes

Two California statutes are central to wine label litigation in this state. Business and Professions Code § 17500 prohibits any person from making or disseminating a false or misleading statement to sell a product. It covers statements on labels, in advertising, on websites, and in any other medium used to reach consumers.

Business and Professions Code § 17200, California’s Unfair Competition Law, provides a broader cause of action that sweeps in any unlawful, unfair, or fraudulent business practice. A label that violates federal TTB standards is automatically “unlawful” for purposes of § 17200, creating a private right of action under California law for conduct that a federal regulator may choose not to pursue.

Both statutes authorize claims by private parties, including competitor wineries, and allow courts to award injunctive relief, restitution, and disgorgement of profits. The UCL’s four-year statute of limitations means that label practices going back several years may be subject to challenge.

Trademark Conflicts in the Wine Industry

As California’s wine industry has grown, trademark conflicts over winery names, vineyard names, and wine brand names have multiplied. The wine industry is particularly prone to these disputes because many producers choose names inspired by geography, family heritage, or the same visual and linguistic traditions, creating a high rate of unintentional overlap.

A senior trademark owner may pursue an injunction against a junior user whose brand creates a likelihood of confusion, regardless of whether the junior user adopted the name in good faith. The cost of rebranding, including new labels, new TTB approvals, and market re-education, can be substantial.

Rogers, Sheffield & Campbell’s Wine Law Practice on the Central Coast

Rogers, Sheffield & Campbell is a pioneer in Wine Law on California’s Central Coast. The firm established one of the first multi-disciplinary wine law practices in the region, advising wineries and vineyards on matters that span label compliance, intellectual property, distribution agreements, custom crush arrangements, licensing, and litigation.

Representative clients include Gainey Vineyard.

Label disputes rarely stay in a single lane. A false appellation claim may involve regulatory response, a competitor lawsuit, and a trademark filing simultaneously. RSC’s wine law practice is built to handle all of it within one firm, with our civil litigation team engaged when matters move to court.

The firm has served wineries, vineyards, and wine-related businesses since 1973. Wine law clients work directly with RSC attorneys who have the depth in this specific area to address every dimension of a label dispute, from the regulatory record to the courtroom.

If a labeling dispute, trademark conflict, or false advertising claim is affecting your winery’s brand or market position, contact Rogers, Sheffield & Campbell today to discuss your options with one of our wine law attorneys.

- The Wine Law Team
  Rogers Sheffield & Campbell, LLP

This article is not intended to provide legal advice. For legal advice on any of the information in this post, please use the form to the right or contact us by phone at 805-963-9721.