In an industry circular dated October 2, 2015, the TTB announced that it made a minor administrative change—and perhaps a very welcome update—to the label approval process. TTB will no longer return label applications to fix discrepancies between what appears on the label and what is stated on the application itself with respect to the net contents, the alcohol content, and the wine vintage date. This holds true provided that:
- The information that appears on the label is compliant with applicable regulations; and
- The information provided on the application is authorized under the agency’s list of Allowable Revisions to Approved Labels.
The agency noted that, when a label is approved under the above circumstances, TTB will add a qualification to the COLA stating that TTB approved the label in spite of the inconsistency. There are some caveats, of course. The net contents statement still has to be considered an authorized standard of fill (for wine, the standard of fill regulations are generally found in 27 CFR 4.72). For alcohol by volume discrepancies, the inconsistency would still have to be within the permissions of Rule 11 on the Allowable Revisions to Approved Labels. For example, it seems possible that an applicant’s wine label could state “Table Wine” with an alcohol by volume of 11% on the label, but the application states 14.5% alcohol by volume (thus putting the wine into a different class and type, dessert wine). The outcome may be different if, for example, the wine label contains a varietal designation (which can be used in lieu of a class designation as a wine’s class and type statement for still grape wine) despite the change in tax classification.
For more information on wine or alcohol law, labeling, or trademark, please contact Lindsey Zahn.
DISCLAIMER: This blog post is for general information purposes only, is not intended to constitute legal advice, and no attorney-client relationship results. Please consult your own attorney for legal advice.