Wednesday, April 15, 2009

More Random TTB Fun

TTB ID: 09099001000132
Basic Permit: BW-CA-5631
Serial Number: 090502
New Status: NEEDS CORRECTION
Previous Status: ASSIGNED


That's the message I got from the TTB.

So what needs correction? Take a quick look at each label:



Find the problem?
Of course you didn't. When I opened the application to see exactly what the problem was it was noted:
Vineyard percentage must be noted and add to 100% on the label. ???? Really ????
Look again. They approved the 2006 label without percentages noted, but rejected the 2007 label. This is what makes dealing with the agency so frustrating, expensive and time consuming. What is approved one year, is rejected the next. The 'law' seems to be open to interpretation by whatever inspector you get.
My complaint isn't really that these laws are silly, although one could certainly debate that. It is that they are random. Look again at the back label above. See the line between www.stefaniawine.com and the government warning? We had left that out initially and the label was rejected. It was out in our 2005 label. The night it was rejected we went to the supermarket and turned around about 50 bottles to see them. Guess what? It was about 50/50. Half had the line, half did not.
So is the line required? Who knows? Some people at the TTB think it is, some people don't. Some people think if you put the vineyard name on the label you must put the percentage from that vineyard. Some people don't. I don't know which one is right. I suspect no one does.
We'll work with the designer again today to make a correction and resubmit the label. The good part is once it's been assigned to an inspector, it goes back to the same inspector, so they aren't likely to find anything else wrong, or more correctly 'feel' that anything else is wrong.
At least the front went through fine!



1 comment:

Stefania said...

Good Times.