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Home > Blogs > Uncorked > Archives > 2005 > November > 30 > Entry
Convicted Felon as Wine Folk Hero? No Thanks
We last wrote about Stealing a Wine’s Place of Birth” back on Oct. 5, when this blog was just a baby (it’s a toddler now). But the misleading-label issue is back in the news in many fun ways:
The Associated Press reported today (11-30-05) that a Shanghai court ordered two Chinese companies to pay $37,000 to the maker of …
… Hennessy Cognac and to stop selling products that violate its trademark. A Chinese food company was selling in local supermarkets wines under the name “Hanlissy” that was billed as “French cognac brandy” and was, um, not anything of the sort. The court “ruled the Chinese companies had sought to mislead consumers,” the AP report said. Duh.
Now I’m hearing news reports suggesting that the folks who produced large amounts of wine with “Napa” on the label — but which actually contained little or no Napa County grapes— are contemplating yet another appeal, this time to a California Supreme Court decision that essentially told them to cease and desist, that their actions were designed to mislead consumers. Sheesh.
For some remarkable insight behind the scenes of this nasty little court fight, check out the U.S. News and World Report profile of Fred Franzia, the man at the epicenter of the “Napa” labeling court battle. The story overall is pretty balanced, though there are times when the author seems to want to canonize Franzia as a hero of the little people for making and selling inexpensive wines and standing up against the high-falutin’ image-obsessed wineries.
Pul-leeze. Let’s not forget a key sentence in the story, referring to a 1993 indictment of Franzia and his company: “Franzia pleaded guilty to a felony count of conspiracy to defraud …” Federal prosecutors charged Franzia and his company of passing off grapes costing between $100 and $200 a ton as zinfandel grapes worth perhaps 10 to 12 times as much. According to the indictment, Franzia scattered zinfandel leaves on top of non-zin grapes as they sat in bins.
A convicted felon as a hero of the people? I don’t think so.
I prefer my wine labels to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, thankyouverymuch. Whether I’m in Dayton, Napa or Shanghai. And preferably, not in a courtroom. Is that too much to ask??
Thoughts? Feel free to “Post a Comment.”
Cheers!
Mark Fisher
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Comments
By cathy
December 1, 2005 4:51 PM | Link to this
“Franzia calls the Napa vintners a ‘bunch of whiners’ living in a ‘fantasy land.’” He’s not going to win any good neighbor awards any time soon.
By Bob
December 1, 2005 3:37 PM | Link to this
In reading the second article I see that one of the complaints is his using the phrase ‘Bottled in Napa’ for non-Napa juice. Clearly he is taking advantage of a technicality. It goes to show the difficulty in writing clear legislation or not having it. The whole issue of bottling goes back years ago when lots of classified Bordeaux was shipped in cask and bottled by resellers in England. The bottled at/in was meant to show that a wine was bottled where it was produced. Franzia has turned this whole process upside down. Again, I see this as at best unfair capitalizing on the Napa name or worse fraud perpetrated on an ill informed public. He’s no hero in any regard.
By ToddN
December 1, 2005 10:33 AM | Link to this
“Most experts think he must have purchased bulk wine from a local vintner in one of the county’s less expensive outlying areas.” I think that this quote from the article sums it up; Napa is different from Napa Valley. As Bob pointed out, there are many outlying areas around the better Bordeaux vineyards that carry that famous name on their label. While these wines may be perfectly good and enjoyable wines at great prices, they simply cannot be compared to the better estates. The same is true in Napa Valley and Fred Franzia’s case. His Four Buck Fred may be very enjoyable and sound; however, it has nothing to do with the better estates in the Valley.
By mark
November 30, 2005 3:59 PM | Link to this
For an even more in-depth profile of Fred Franzia that includes how “Two-Buck Chuck” was born, copy and paste the following link into your web browser: http://www.sfweekly.com/issues/2005-08-24/news/feature.html. Cheers! Mark Fisher
By Bob
November 30, 2005 3:54 PM | Link to this
I guess I found the article more biased towards Franzia than you did. I am troubled by his ethics that required him to plead guilty to a felony. I certainly don’t see him as a folk hero. He may be a good marketer but I don’t see him promoting wine for the common man anymore than Gallo or Sebastani long before him. I find it extremely disingenuous of him to buy up Napa labels to allow him to use the ‘value’ of the Napa name for wines that should not qualify. On the other hand, whoever wrote the law that grandfathered in existing labels wasn’t very smart. I have long been disappointed in the steadily increasing price of Napa wines along with many others, but isn’t this mostly a case of supply and demand. I personally do not look at a wine that says Napa and automatically assume that it will be good, but I do understand how some people do see the Napa on the label as an indication of a certain quality level. Isn’t it somewhat elitist to want your bottle to say Napa in the first place? Isn’t he admitting that there is perceived value? I have no problem at all with Franzia bottling and labeling wines from anywhere that he likes so long as he plays by the rules. If he can find 180,000 cases of Napa juice and sell it for $4/bottle good for him. It would be even better if his efforts caused downward price pressure on other producers. Again he needs to play by the rules. There are oceans of cheap wine that is qualified to be called Bordeaux. This does not seem to be of concern to the producers of the really great wines. A savvy wine buyer will seek wines that provide them good quality to price ratio. If Franzia can provide good quality/price ratio in an honest fashion more power to him.