No more whining about geographical indications: assessing the 2005 agreement between the United States and the European community on the trade in wine.

(12.) Goldberg, supra note 5, at 144-45 n.215; Jim Chen, A Sober Second Look at Appellations of Origin: How the United States Will Crash France's Wine and Cheese Party, 5 MINN. J. GLOBAL TRADE 29, 62 (1996). Chen argues that the driving force behind France's geographical naming standards is an effort to maximize producer income by enabling "farmstead-to-doorstep domination of discrete product markets." Chen, supra at 36. Consumer protection is of only secondary importance. See id. at 62.

(13.) Kym Anderson et al., The Global Picture, in THE WORLD'S WINE MARKETS 14, 14, 26 (Kym Anderson ed., 2004).

(14.) PIERRE SPAHNI, THE INTERNATIONAL WINE TRADE 54-55 (2d ed. 2000).

(15.) Daniel A. Sumner et al., North America, in THE WORLD'S WINE MARKETS, supra note 13, at 187, 192.

(16.) Philip Martin & Dale Helen, The California Wine Industry: Entering a New Era?, 7 U.C. GIANNINI FOUND. AGRIC. & RESOURCE ECON. UPDATE 5, 5 (Mar./Apr. 2004). See discussion infra Part I.D.2 for a more detailed discussion of the trends in American wine consumption.

(17.) Martin & Helen, supra note 16, at 5-6; see also Gordon T. Anderson, Can Anything Save French Wine?, CNN MONEY, Aug. 23, 2004, http://money.cnn.com/2004/08/19/pf/goodlife/french_wine/index.htm.

(18.) See DOA OUTLOOK, supra note 11, at 3. In addition, European governmental controls on grape production that seek to improve the quality of wines produced have led to higher prices for European wines worldwide. See id. at 4.

(19.) See id. at 3. New World countries were settled by European immigrants; therefore, they share a common style of fresh and fruity wine. Martin & Heien, supra note 16, at 7. In the 1970s, European producers reacted to the New World's entrance into the American market by taking the competition head-on and producing similar wines. See Weekend Edition Sunday: In Italy's Wine Regions, a Return to Tradition (NPR radio broadcast Oct. 16, 2005). For example, in Italy, an influx of American expatriate winemakers emphasized using technology to create fruit-forward, nontraditional blends aimed at the international markets. Id. It was during this "wine revolution" that the Super Tuscan blend was born. Id. More recently, because European wines are being priced out of the international markets by New World competitors, European producers have begun to refocus their efforts on creating wines that are true to the terroir. Id.

(20.) SPAHNI, supra note 14, at 134-35; see also Anderson, supra note 17.

(21.) Id. at 140. New World countries, which have experienced a recent boom in the U.S. market, include Australia, Argentina, South Africa, and Chile. See DOA OUTLOOK, supra note 11, at 21-26; see also Martin & Helen, supra note 16, at 7 (discussing the wine production of these countries).

(22.) See DOA OUTLOOK, supra note 11, at 22. By contrast, the quantity of French exports to the United States fell 6% in 2004. Id. at 17.

(23.) Martin & Helen, supra note 16, at 8.

(24.) Id.

(25.) Murphy, supra note 8; see SPAHNI, supra note 14, at 79 (asserting that "nowhere in the world are brands so important and fads so full of consequences" as among the American wine consumers).

(26.) See SPAHNI, supra note 14, at 79. Like their fellow New World competitors, American wine producers have also been successful at exploiting the benefits of building a strong brand presence. See id. at 79-80. America's largest wine producer E. & J. Gallo has flourished in its efforts to reposition its brands as premium, rather than jug-quality, wines. Id. at 91.

(27.) See DOA OUTLOOK, supra note 11, at 17-20.

(28.) Id. at 8. The United States is currently the world's fourth largest wine producer. Martin & Heien, supra note 16, at 7.

(29.) See DOA OUTLOOK, supra note 11, at 8. Great Britain is by far the largest European importer of American wines, comprising 32% of all U.S. wine exports. Id.

(30.) See id. at 17-21.

(31.) Id. at 19.

(32.) See id. at 18, 20.

(33.) See American Wine Comes of Age, TIME, Nov. 27, 1972, http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,944560-1,00.html (discussing how the increased quality of and respect for American wine was competitively advantageous to American winemakers as early as 1972).

(34.) Sumner, supra note 15, at 187, 203.

(35.) See Martin & Heien, supra note 16, at 6.

(36.) Sumner, supra note 15, 187, 206-07 (asserting that a strong U.S. dollar would bring higher price differences and increased competition from other New World winemakers).

(37.) Id. at 188.

(38.) See id. at 188-89. The emergence of the California wine industry in the mid-nineteenth century did not occur without setbacks. SPAHNI, supra note 14, at 76. "[W]idespread fraudulent practices by East Coast wine merchants, notably the mislabeling and marketing of California wines as European products, and the burst of the financial bubble of the 1870s ... spared only a third of California's 139 wineries." Id.

(39.) Sumner, supra note 15, at 189. Early California wine was marketed to miners and was of low quality. Id. at 188-89. During the first part of the twentieth century, a tremendous influx of immigrants from European wine producing regions provided the technological know-how and demand for higher quality wines from this region. Id. at 189.

(40.) U.S. CONST. amend. XVIII (repealed in 1933); Sumner, supra note 15, at 189-90.

(41.) Wine Institute, Wine Production, http://www.wineinstitute.org/communications/statistics/ wine_production_key_facts.htm (last visited Mar. 25, 2006).

(42.) Sumner, supra note 15, at 187.

(43.) Id. at 191. Despite a steady growth in American wine consumption after the Prohibition, the industry experienced a noticeable lag in the mid 1970s. Id. at 191-92.

(44.) The term "table wine" refers to still wine that is less than 14% in alcohol by volume. Id. at 191.

(45.) Wine Institute, Wine Consumption in the U.S. 1934-2004, http://www.wineinstitute.org/communications/statistics/ consumption1934_99.html (last visited Mar. 25, 2007).

(46.) Martin & Heien, supra note 16, at 5.

(47.) John Love, The U.S. Wine Market Uncorked, AGRIC. OUTLOOK, Aug. 1997, at 12.

(48.) See Martin & Heien, supra note 16, at 5; see also SPAHNI, supra note 14, at 79 n.90 (describing the television broadcast and the immediate 45% increase in wine sales compared with the previous year).

(49.) Martin & Helen, supra note 16, at 5.

(50.) See id. at 5 tbl.1 (charting growing sales among higher quality wines and falling sales among jug wine). The U.S. government, unlike the European Community, does not impose wine quality standards, and as a result, retail price has emerged as the chief indicator of quality. Jon A. Fredrikson, The Context for Marketing Strategies: A Look at the U.S. Wine Market, in SUCCESSFUL WINE MARKETING 47, 52 (Kirby Moulton & James Lapsley eds., 2001). The lowest quality tier, jug wine, consists of all wines which sell for less than $3 per 750-mililiter bottle. Id. Popular-premium wines sell between $3 and $7 per bottle. Id. Finally, high-end premium wines include superpremiums ($7 to $14 per bottle) and ultrapremiums (over $14 per bottle). Id.

(51.) Sumner, supra note 15, at 194. As further testimony of this dramatic shift in purchase habits, there has been more than a 600% increase in the number of cases of ultrapremium wine sold in the United States between 1991 and 2001. See Martin & Heien, supra note 16, at 5 tbl.1.

(52.) Fredrikson, supra note 50, at 52-53.

(53.) See Martin & Heien, supra note 16, at 5.

(54.) Id. Indeed, increased purchases of high-end premium bottles have helped to offset the drop-off in jug wine consumption, which otherwise would have severely flattened the trend in total U.S. wine consumption. SPAHNI, supra note 14, at 84.

(55.) See SPAHNI, supra note 14, at 84; see also Martin & Helen, supra note 16, at 5 (classifying Chablis and Burgundy as jug wines). For now, the reader need only differentiate between wines described by varietal terms and those identified by generic or semi-generic terms. See infra Part II.B.1 (defining the legal term "semi-generic").

(56.) See SPAHNI, supra note 14, at 89.

(57.) Martin & Helen, supra note 16, at 6. In 2004, the top 30 wine companies (ranked by total case sales) comprised over 90% of the U.S. wine market. The Top 30 US Wine Companies of 2004, WINE BUS. MONTHLY, Feb. 2005, http://www.winebusiness.com/SpecialSection/2005/Top30USWineCompanies.cfm. As a consequence of consolidation, mid-sized wineries are being squeezed out of the business. Id.

(58.) See SPAHNI, supra note 14, at 89 (asserting that generics represented 57% of the Big Three's supermarket sales in 1998). Because of the Big Three's strong market presence, semi-generics account for approximately 40% of wines sold in the U.S. market. Sogg, supra note 3.

(59.) SPAHNI, supra note 14, at 89.

(60.) Id.

(61.) Id.

(62.) Id. at 91.

(63.) Id.

(64.) Id.

(65.) See DOA OUTLOOK, supra note 11, at 3.

(66.) See id. at 19.

(67.) Leigh Ann Lindquist, Champagne or Champagne? An Examination of U.S. Failure to Comply with the Geographical Provisions of the TRIPS Agreement, 27 GA. J. INT'L & COMP. L. 309, 312 (1999).

(68.) Id.

(69.) Id. at 312-13.

(70.) Id. at 313; see also Wine.com, About Appellations, http://www.wine.com/aboutwine/basics/appellations.asp (last visited Mar. 25, 2007).

(71.) Lindquist, supra note 67, at 312; see also Chen, supra note 12, at 32 (describing AOCs as reflecting "seasonal and annual variations in the designated locale's climate").