Tip of the hat, wag of the finger!
Just how much truthiness is there in American wine? Thanks to a US Treasury Department ruling this week, the answer it about 10 percent less. Federal regulators get this week’s wag of the finger!
Yes, the Wine Institute of California pushed the federal regulators to relax the rules for putting a vintage on a wine’s label. Previously American wines only had 95 percent truthiness when it comes to their age and now some will only have to have 85 percent.
While less truthiness on wine labels is a step in the wrong direction in general, federal regulators sought to confuse consumers by having the new standard apply to only SOME wines. Yes, if a wine comes from Napa or Sonoma the 95 percent truthiness still holds. But for generic California wines, age now matters less, creating a two tier system for consumers to keep track of. Heap opprobium on federal regulators with a wag of the finger!
A tip of the hat this week goes to Fast Company magazine who had the good judgment to recommend this wine blog as a site that’s worth its weight in Bordeaux 2005 futures.
tags: wine | wine | wine blogs
