Recognizing the value of grapes grown on specific vineyards, wineries have begun using vineyard designates. 

A vineyard designated wine is a wine produced from the product of a single vineyard with that vineyard’s name appearing on the wine label. 

If the name of the vineyard appears on a wine label, at least 95% of the grapes used to make the wine must come from that vineyard.

In the United States, the appearance of vineyard names on wine labels is a relatively recent phenomenon with one of the first vineyard designated premium wines in California being the1966 vintage Heitz Martha’s Vineyard ® cabernet sauvignon.

Growers, wineries and consumers of wine have long observed the differences in quality of wine made from wine grapes grown in one area and another. The boundaries of these vineyards have generally been well demarcated. However, the prominence of vineyard designated wines presents both the winery and the vineyard owner or lessee with a number of branding and marketing issues.

BTN gets insights from Katja Loeffelholz a registered attorney with the United States Patent and Trademark Office and Of Counsel to Dickenson, Peatman & Fogarty on how to protect vineyard designate or other agricultural commodity.