Joe Wagner in Trouble?

Interesting article about Wagner’s labeling of his Oregon pinots.

I see this becoming much more of an issue over time as the OR wine business grows - and is more impacted by larger wineries buying in . . .

Anyone responsible for Meiomi should be pilloried and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law…

I don’t know for sure, but I would think that label violates AVA regulations.

Reading this makes me sick to my stomach. It’s this kind of “we believe” junk that’s trying to find a loop hole when there isn’t one and shouldn’t be one. How ANY wine store could willingly carry his wines after this is beyond me.

He had no AVA labeled…

Of course, but he had the name of an AVA on the label. Twice. (without the word “valley”, but I don’t think that should matter)

Dude is a disgrace.

Here is what is the Willamette Valley Wineries Association is considering doing about it:

http://willamettewines.com/conjunctive-and-varietal-labeling/

Who remembers when Donn Sebastiani trademarked the name ‘Domaine Chardonnay’ for a wine made of Colombard and Chenin Blanc?

It was legal, but never got to the market.

The scandal wasn’t sleazebag Donn Sebastiani doing what sleazebags do, the scandal was that it was legal.

Dan Kravitz

I know people get their panties in a bunch over this stuff but here’s what Wagner did that nobody in Willamette Valley did yet - create a few brands worth nine figures.

They’re trying to create an image of the valley but that matters to the people on this board and the people on this board are not going to create a market. He has proven that he can sell wine like nobody - that Meiomi shit sells as a premium wine! These guys need to take the long view. Let him get his marketing people on the job, popularize the name, and give him a few awards. Then do like the Renaissance folks used to do when they couldn’t figure out how to pay off their condottieri - kill him and erect a statue of him in the town square.

That’s obviously what we need. Another monument to the corruption of everything.

I hope the OLCC hangs him by his balls.

Greg,

My pushback to that would be that he has built in distribution. All he has to do is create a new brand and it immediately has shelf space throughout America. Crazy as it sounds he doesn’t actually have to do much after production and it easily could be worth 9 figures.

Distribution on his scale is something that others can never achieve as they just don’t have the leverage that he has.

So claiming people are jealous is really not the way forward, he’s purposely trying to game the system with mis leading labels…

There is no doubt that OR will ‘blow up’ at some point. Look at all of the investments being made by major brands in vineyard land and already established brands in the area. I think Wagner understands that and is trying to ‘take advantage’ of that - and differentiate these wines from his CA offerings.

Do any of these wines show a ‘sense of place’? Heck no - and neither does the Prisoner or Meiomi or . . .

These are not wines that many on this board will seek out and purchase - but the fact is that he has been incredibly successful because LOADS of folks do enjoy drinking his wines - whether they know what they are drinking or not. Branding in our industry is a big issue - and his dad understood that, Orin Swift understood it, etc . . .

‘Purists’ will look at this entirely differently than those who are looking at this purely as a ‘business’ - and my guess is that neither will be willing or wanting to take the time to understand the other side.

Cheers!

I loved the grumpy old farmer. How the rest of this evil family was born is a mystery to me.

He that shall be named “douche bag”.

Esther has this to say in today’s SFChron:

Tom