The Vineyard House and Constellation Brands each own a fraction of the original 527-acre To Kalon (Greek for “the highest beauty’) Estate created by pioneering winemaker H.W. Crabb in the late 19th century.
Crabb, Along with venerated winemakers like Charles Krug and Jacob Schram, helped transform the Napa Valley into a premier wine region and made To Kalon into a national brand establishing an extensive distribution network that allowed him to ship products to the East Coast and Midwest, helping stimulate demand for Napa Valley wines as early as the 1880s.
In the years since Crabb’s death in 1899, property comprising his estate underwent a series of ownership changes and divisions. Today, 17 acres of the original To Kalon Estate – land Crabb owned at the time of his death – is owned by The Vineyard House, part of TVH’s total 43-acre parcel in Oakville. TVH’s property clearly dates back to Crabb.
Robert Mondavi acquired much of the historic To Kalon estate in the 1960s and aggressively marketed its connection to the famed property to sell super-premium wines.
In 1987, Mondavi requested and received a trademark for To Kalon from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Mondavi claimed To Kalon designation had “no current meaning or significance in the wine industry” even though it had numerous studies to document To Kalon’s enormous value the suit alleges.
In obtaining the trademark, Mondavi sought exclusive rights to use the vineyard’s name even though it did not own all of the original property and, strikingly, began using “To Kalon” to describe wines produced from other Mondavi properties, a lawsuit filed in Federal Court argues.. Mondavi further marketed the To Kalon connection in the Opus One venture launched with Baron Philippe de Rothschild in 1984.
The Vineyard House lawsuit claims these actions constitute false advertising and false designation of origin as described in federal law and demands that Constellation stop this deceptive practice immediately.
Further, because To Kalon describes a specific geographic place, federal regulations prohibit its exclusive use. “All those who own land that was part of the original estate should be given rights to enjoy use of the name,” the suit says.
It adds that Constellation’s use of To Kalon “is deceptive and geographically misdescriptive of the origin of the goods, especially given that the Alcohol & Tobacco Tax & Trade Bureau has enumerated rules and regulations regarding the manner in which vineyard designations can appear, specifically stating that where the name of a vineyard is used, 95% of the wine must be produced from primary winemaking materials grown on the named vineyard.”
TVH asserts that it has a fair use right to use “H.W. Crabb’s To Kalon” in connection with its property, and thereafter its wine, as such property was a part of the original To Kalon estate and such statement would be a truthful and accurate description of the same.