Lawsuit roils wine industry waters

WINE TALK
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This is the talk of the Willamette Valley. Tony Rynders, the winemaker at Domaine Serene, has left and there’s a huge cloud of controversy. http://www.newsregister.com/article/41505-lawsuit+roils+wine+industry+waters" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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I have no experience in winemaking, but I have some experience in trade secret and conspiracy cases. I have a very hard time believing that there are alot of trade secrets as to methods of making various wine. And when someone throws around accusations like that, it greatly damages the credibility of any other accusations in the case. And the email stuff sounds like BS too.

3

Hmmmmm, perhaps we need a “Wine Litigation” forum…[g]

I hesitate to draw too many conclusions from a newspaper’s account of litigation, but my initial reaction is much the same as Mr. Stucker’s. Of course, we share a certain name, etc., so take it with a grain of salt.

Bruce

4

Far to many egos on both sides of this mess. I like Tony and I like the Evansteds.

What got the rankle going, which was not published in the article, is an interview that Tony did with Harvey S., for the WS, where he told Harvey that he had bought into vineyards and a winery in WA to make Bordeaux blends.

Harvey prints the news on his blog. The Evansteds knew nothing of this venture and read about it with everyone else in WS. Tony’s contract prohibited such actions. At that point there is a lost of faith and face, on both sides, and things are still snowballing.

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I got your blanc de pinot noir trade secrets recipe right here:

Whole cluster press the pinot.
Let the juice settle.
Put it in barrel.
Let any remaining pigment settle out.
Fine with chard lees to get the rest.
Rack and bottle the wine.
Take your (former) winemaker to court.

headbang

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Jess Jackson tried this on Jed Steele years ago and got laughed out of court, no?

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This reminds me that back in the day Jess Jackson sued Jed Steele to prevent him from disclosing the “trade secret” to KJ’s Vintners Reserve Chard. Does anyone remember how that turned out?

Edit: Roberto you beat me to it!

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EGO, EGO’s!

No one else in the WV currently makes a pinot noir blanc (Couer Blanc), other than DS. If I were a betting man, a part of this lawsuit will disappear if Tony agrees not to make it, or help make it for anyone else, for X number of years. Doesn’t mean that anybody can’t start making it tommorrow, if they so choose, but not with Tony’s help.

But Tony hasn’t wanted to agree with anything so far. I thought the part about him “telling them in 1998 that he may be interested in doing things on his own in the future”, and then signing a contract that says he wouldn’t was pretty lame.

The lawsuit is only for $75K. Chump change for both parties. The lawyer fees will be far more than that.

9

No contract=no case

He should not have forwarded the emails, though, that just makes it look suspicious.

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I recently had a case with these type claims when the employee (office manager) sent himself 30 some emails with attached documents. The plaintiff claimed they were all trade secrets, including a photo of the emplyee himself. There was not one single trade secret in the entire bunch. Although, the emailing has always amazed me. With the easy and inexpensive availability of thumb drives, I have no idea why people don’t just use that to copy the documents they want.

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Bullshit. [bullshit.gif] I’ve tasted two others out of barrel, one as recently as yesterday, and I know of at least one other. When exactly did you become a shill for the Evenstadts, anyway?

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Sorry Bob, Not a shrill for the Evansteds. Not taking any sides in this dogfight.

Haven’t personally seen or heard of another one. Pinotage and Pinot Blanc yes, but not pinot noir blanc.

So who’s making it? I like the wine and would probably try it from other winemakers.

Of course, the unasked question is: Is Tony involved?

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I’m not going to dignify that with an answer.

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Sounds like standard employment issues here. Nutin’ special.

Nice gossip potential, though.

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Bob;

Sorry, Didn’t realize it was an undignified question! Guess I’ll have to wait and see what wines hits the market place.

But your reply probably made the answer obvious.

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I like it when Bob curses…that means he is really pissed off! [stirthepothal.gif]

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Any time you engage in guilt by innuendo it’s undignified.

Gordon, your assumption has no basis. Quit putting your foot in it, here.

EDIT: If Tony WERE involved in the wines I know about - and he is most definitely not - do you think I’d put it out here on the Interwebs so the Evanstadts, who after this I wouldn’t piss on if they were on fire, could use it as ammunition?

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I didn’t see any profanity! Did I miss something?

but I’ll humbly bow out the the conversation now! [tease.gif], per your request.

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Here you go…

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There will be a motion to dismiss hearing in federal court on September 30. I’m hoping the case gets tossed.