Whose Reserve Is It, Anyway?

The late Bruno Benziger, founder of Glen Ellen Winery and a man who some say revolutionized wine marketing in California, sat staunchly defending his turf at a wine symposium some years ago.

It was a spirited debate. At one point, Robert Mondavi rose from his chair in the front row of the audience to berate Benziger for using the term “Proprietor’s Reserve” on wines that sold for $3.50 a bottle. Mondavi said using the term reserve that way cheapened the word and made it harder for those (such as himself) who marketed expensive wine using the term. (Cynics in the audience said Mondavi wouldn’t have been as upset if he’d had the idea himself.)

Today there are hundreds of wines called “reserve.” Most are expensive wines, made from the best grapes and treated carefully. They cost a lot of money. But there are also a slew of wines called “reserve” that have no relationship to the expensive stuff.

Even the huge E&J; Gallo Winery released a line of wines from the “Reserve Cellars of E&J; Gallo,” with a neckband reading “Limited Release.” Some joked that for a winery that made 60 million cases of wine a year, “limited” meant 300,000 cases.

The lack of a specific meaning for the word reserve , as well as the fact that it now appears on a lot of cheap wine, has angered many winemakers, who feel some of their brethren have taken liberties with the word, and they are pushing for a resolution of the problem.

In particular, the issue is of concern to wineries that intend to sell wine in the European Community, because under Common Market rules, any term used on a label must have a specific meaning in the country of origin before such wines may be imported. For this reason, wine has been held up in Germany, and other countries may soon act similarly.

To address that problem, a committee of the Wine Institute, an industry trade organization, has come up with a tentative definition, but industry insiders say E&J; Gallo and Glen Ellen--two major contributors to the Institute who use reserve on less-expensive wines--have stymied the process.

Partly in response, Mondavi last week culminated a decade-old dispute by pulling out of the Institute, charging that the group paid more attention to the jug winemakers. Joining Mondavi in resigning was Jack Davies, owner of Schramsberg Vineyards, the producer of premium Napa Valley sparkling wine. Davies has been pressuring the Institute since 1985 to help resolve the issue of the word “reserve.”

A committee of the Napa Valley Vintners has suggested that the phrase “Napa Valley Reserve” be defined as a top-of-the-line wine that represents the best product a winery offers in the particular category.

Because of the confusion over the word, David Coleman, the eccentric who operates Adler Fels Winery in Sonoma Valley, decided to poke fun at the controversy. “In 1990 we found that we could make a ‘reserve’ that was pretty good,” he said. “So what is everything else, dog meat?”

In this case, the “everything else” is an attractive wine that he calls “Unreserved.” The 1990 Adler Fels “Unreserved” Chardonnay sells for $12 a bottle, $2 less than the “Reserve.”

Wine of the Week

1991 Seghesio Sauvignon Blanc ($7.50)-- Dry Creek Valley makes some of the best Sauvignon Blancs in California. This one is the first from Seghesio, and it’s a gem. The lemon and melon spices are matched to a fine hint of new-mown hay and a trace of pears. The texture is lush and supple, but there’s not so much oak that the wonderful fruit components are masked. It’s terrific wine at a very fair price.