E.U. bans importation of some U.S. wines
Those French words, along with other terms like ''classic,'' ''tawny,'' ''noble,'' ''ruby'' and ''vintage,'' are all strictly regulated wine terms in Europe, with specific rules for who gets to use them and when.
Now, the European Union is contending that U.S. vintners must adhere to the same EU rules for wines using terms regarded as ''traditional expressions'' in order to avoid confusion.
The wine trade spat could affect a number of California wine brands including one of Sonoma County's signature wines, Clos du Bois.
''Their justification is that these terms are traditionally used in specific countries and that if other countries used these terms, it creates confusion on the part of consumers,'' said Joe Rollo, export director for the San Francisco-based trade group Wine Institute.
The EU has been trying to persuade other nations to cease using such terms since 2002, but not very aggressively. It never enforced the 2002 rules, and in 2006, when the last major trade agreement with the United States was struck, American vintners were given a three-year exemption. That waiver ended March 10. U.S. trade officials declined to comment.
Simmering resentment over past trade talks may be at play, said Bill Nelson, president of the trade group WineAmerica.
In the 2006 accord, the United States refused to give in to EU demands for American wineries to stop using phrases like ''Champagne,'' ''Chablis'' and ''Burgundy,'' all famed wine regions in France. The United States considers such terms ''semigeneric'' because they've long been used here to describe wine styles, not French geography.
''I think that they are angry at us over the whole semi-generic thing, so they are trying to put a stick in our eye wherever they can,'' Nelson said.
That stick has the potential to poke dozens of U.S. wineries, though how sharp it is remains unclear.
Some Sonoma County wineries with names covered by the new rules include Clos du Bois in Geyserville, Chateau St. Jean in Kenwood and Chateau Felice in Healdsburg. Napa wineries Clos Du Val, Clos Pegase and Chateau Montelena are some of the better-known wineries potentially affected. Not all of the wineries currently sell to the European Union.
Clos Du Val, co-owned by Frenchman Bernard Portet, has halted shipments to mainland Europe pending resolution of the issue, said public relations director Mary Ann Vangrin. It continues to export to the United Kingdom, where the winery's name was trademarked prior to 2002 and is therefore grandfathered in, she said.
The winery, in the prestigious Stag's Leap District of the Napa Valley, strongly supports the protection of place names, but can't quite understand the opposition to a term like ``clos.''
''I think . . . there is not necessarily a direct translation,'' she said.
Clos generally means ''enclosure,'' but it has come to be known as walled or enclosed vineyard.
The term, widely used in Burgundy, can appear on a French wine label only if the vineyard by that name produces and bottles its wine.
Similarly, ''chateau'' is restricted in Europe to wineries that produce wines from their own vineyards, similar to the rule for ''estate bottled'' on U.S. labels, said Susan Cagann, an attorney with the San Francisco law firm Farella Braun + Martel.