WINE, as a sort of liquid geography, has the magical ability to convey a sense of place in the glass, and the French concept of terroir is increasingly celebrated on New Zealand labels. So it is disappointing to come across New Zealand wines which mislead consumers about their geographic origins.
One North Island producer has launched a pinot noir of sound, although not high, quality, from the 2007 vintage. The front label features two references - one very bold - to the name of a prestigious pinot noir region. If you saw the wine on a shelf, you would immediately assume the wine originated from that region.
On the back label, there is even a third mention of the highly rated region. Buried amid hundreds of words in small type, however, is the sentence: "Made using grapes sourced from New Zealand's premium Pinot Noir producing regions." In fact, only half the wine was grown in the stated region - the rest was grown in a different region that is not renowned for pinot noir.
In the South Island, another producer has released an excellent riesling from the 2007 vintage. The front label correctly identifies the wine's region of origin, but the capsule and back label also feature the name of one of the region's most prestigious districts or sub-regions. The only problem is that is not the district in which the grapes were grown.
Another new producer, with a brand that includes the name of a famous wine sub-region, recently released a pinot gris that was grown in three vineyards - only one of which is located in that sub-region. Given that its front and back labels contain no references to any other sub-regions, wine lovers will assume - wrongly - that the wine was sourced exclusively from the prestigious district pictured on the front label and whose name forms part of the brand.
Until recently, New Zealand's labelling regulations had major loopholes. Wines carrying the name of a single grape variety had to contain at least 75 per cent of the stated variety, but the rules were often not specific to wine and did not guarantee the integrity of geographic claims made on labels. Following a major review and passage of the Wine Act 2003, an ‘85 per cent rule' was introduced from the 2007 vintage, bringing New Zealand into line with international protocols for wine label statements. Now, if a label states that a wine is from a single grape variety, vintage or area of origin, it must be at least 85 per cent from the claimed variety, vintage or area.
However, things get more complicated if an area of origin is part of a winery trademark. For instance, imagine if a company called Waipara Heights or Martinborough Terrace purchased grapes from Marlborough and labelled its wine simply as Waipara Heights Pinot Noir or Martinborough Terrace Pinot Noir, without stating the actual region of origin.
Things can get even more murky. Imagine a wine from Central Otago boldly branded as Bannockburn Slopes Pinot Noir, but made from grapes grown in one of Central Otago's less famous sub-regions, and correctly identifying Central Otago on the label as its region of origin. If the pretty picture on the front label shows the Bannockburn district, and the information on the back label refers to the winery being based at Bannockburn - even describes the terrain, soils and climate of Bannockburn - what conclusion about the origin of the wine would anyone reach?
According to one legal expert, a trademark has "certain rights and reputation attached to it and use [of an area of origin] in that context may not be considered use of the area of origin per se". "It seems dishonest to me," says one winemaker, "that a winery can have a brand name with a geographical reference in it and be able, in theory, to release wines without any grapes from that region in it, provided they don't make any statement of origin."
Wineries that brand themselves using place names (along the lines of Awatere Creek or Waipara Ridge) but fail to provide sufficiently detailed information about their region or sub-region of origin on their labels, create an expectation that is sometimes misleading. Among those who have recently released wines carrying such questionable labels are members of a famous winemaking family and the president of one of the regional winemakers' associations.
The solution is obvious. If a place name forms a key part of a winery's brand, the origin of any wines it produces from grapes grown elsewhere should be clearly identified on the front label. That way, we'll all know what we are drinking.