Generic Wine

The rise of New World wines over the last few decades has seen one marked shift in the way consumers drink wine: the single varietal. The US and Australia have led this trend, causing wines labelled Chardonnay, Merlot, or Shiraz to sell more quickly than those called Chablis, Fronsac, or Crozes-Hermitage.

In France, Italy, and Spain, the name of the place the wine comes from has always been of more significance than the name of the grape(s) in the wine. In part, this is because many of the best wines from these countries are blends of several different grape varieties. It's also because wine, more than any other drink, is an expression of place and not just of product.

"How much more individual still was the character that they assumed from being designated by names, names that were only for themselves, proper names such as people have" - Proust, Swann's Way

California Champagne and Sherry

These place names are protected in EU law in order to prevent fraud, which has long been an issue for the great wines of France. In the 1890s, Cognac producers fought against German merchants who labelled imported - and often quite dangerous - fortified wines as "Cognac." At the same time, 1891 saw an agreement signed in Madrid by 56 different countries to give international protection to trademarks such as Champagne - an agreement the USA did not sign up to until 2004. In the 1920s, the widespread adulteration of wines from Châteauneuf-du-Pape saw local producer Baron Pierre Le Foy devise rules to protect the wine that became the foundation for the French appellation system, now followed by many countries around the world.

a rather confusing California wine list

Until varietal labelling became fashionable, American wines were named after French places with which they had nothing in common. Before the Cabernet revolution in Napa, the most planted grape was Chenin Blanc, put into blends with Riesling and Gewürztraminer for wines labelled "Chablis" (ironically enough a French wine that's 100% Chardonnay). It wasn't just the US who did this: in the 1950s and 60s, Spain would market its inferior white wines as "Spanish Chablis" and "Spanish Sauternes."

These imitations are called "generic wines" and have thankfully been in decline since California began making its own confident expressions of place. However, they have not completely disappeared. Wines labelled "Burgundy," "Sherry," and "Champagne" still exist on Californian supermarket shelves. Seeing such wines is shocking: they break international rules, trash the great wine names they shamelessly abuse, and show no respect for the consumer. 

A throwback to California's juvenile wine culture, these wines have long been controversial. As far as back as 1941, Frank Schoonmaker, an influential American winemaker and writer, complained that, "American vintners insisted on selling their wines under European names to which these wines had no moral right"; the effect was to confuse the consumer, belittle historically great wines, and undermine American wine itself. "European names for California wines ... mean absolutely nothing ... they give the consumer no idea what he is buying, no guarantee, and no information." Schoonmaker's final point, that it also prevents American winemakers from making great wine, still stands today: "they give the producer of superior grapes and the owner of superior vineyards no advantage and higher prices ...."*
It was Schoonmaker's idea to label Californian wines varietally, in order to distinguish them from European wines - a great marketing idea as well as one that preserves the integrity of the wine.

A 2005 trade agreement between the EU and the US outlawed the use of European place names for American wines. Remarkably and controversially, however, they still exist. Brands that carried generic names before 2006 are allowed to continue to do so, although the EU is looking to outlaw their use entirely in the next set of trade negotiations.

"Like so many named places in California it was less an identifiable city than a grouping of concepts.” Thomas Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49

Like Champagne, Napa also realises the importance of protecting its name

Tom LaFaille, of California's Wine Institute, a powerful lobbying group representing big brands, disingenuously says that "American wineries are doing much more than European producers to introduce these products to American consumers." Likewise, Korbel, a Californian sparkling wine producer, vigorously defends its continued use of Champagne on its labels, stating that it has been making "California champagne" since the 1880s.**

The success of Californian wine over the last forty years has been based on a gradually increased self-confidence, as the state learns what it does best. Producers have come to realise that high-profile areas such as Napa need protecting if they are not to be undermined. Yet it is major Californian brands who are holding back the advancement of the state's wine by deliberately marketing an inferior product as something genuine.

Although Champagne is overly litigious in protecting its name, there is a good reason for it: wine at its best is all about place of origin. Over the centuries, too many unscrupulous producers have taken advantage of the fame and quality of the wines of renowned regions. Ensuring wine comes from the place it says it's from protects the producer from being undermined and the consumer from being shortchanged. That California producers, some of them large brands, some of them small family, still insist on using European names for their wines does the image of Californian wine no good.

*Frank Schoonmaker, "American Names for American Wines," in History in a Glass: Sixty Years of Wine Writing from Gourmet, p.10.
** "Sonoma County wineries keep close eye on trade negotiations," The Press Democrat (16 November 2014).