Hogging all the (cup)cake!

It seems that one cakey winery is taking our friends at Cupcake Vineyards to task over implying that wine can be as good as a cupcake. Sounds to me like they think they can keep all the "cake" to themselves. Um, I don't think so. Isn't there room for LOTS of cake? Heck, yeah!
If you have never tried the wines from the Cupcake Vineyards, be sure to visit our next IronCupcake:Milwaukee challenge on April 13th!!

Having Their Cake and Drinking it Too:
'Layer Cake' Wine Sues 'Cupcake' Label
By Joe Eskenazi in Law & Order/SFWeekly.com
Monday, Mar. 30 2009 @ 6:30AM

Look, even this kid can tell the difference between a layer cake and a cupcake!
I am not a legal scholar. But I can tell you this: Never have I ever been so blitzed on the fruit of the vine that I couldn't tell a layer cake from a cupcake. But, again, I am no legal scholar -- because just such a distinction is the genesis of a 56-page copyright infringement lawsuit filed last week in San Francisco Superior Court.

One True Vine of St. Helena (which puts out the Layer Cake label) has taken umbrage with The Wine Group of Delaware, which produces a line called "Cupcake." Now, wine connoisseurs are always portrayed as a smart and discerning lot. And perhaps they are. But you won't get that from the contentions put forward in this lawsuit. In essence, One True Vine claims that oblivious oenophiles won't be able to tell Layer Cake (mid-range price, picture of "a partially sliced and decadent-looking chocolate cake" on the label) from Cupcake (low price, no picture on label, picture of a cupcake on cases).

But One True Vine's complaint doesn't stop there. The company is pissed that the Cupcake folks would dare compare their wines -- to cake. To wit, Cupcake's 2008 Sauvignon Blanc is pitched as "reminiscent of your grandmother's lemon chiffon cake." Another wine is compared to a "chocolate cherry cake" -- and One True Vine seems miffed the Cupcake folks even deign to suggest you drink their wines with cake.

Personally, I've never sipped any wine and thought "ah, cake" -- though Manischewitz Loganberry does taste an awful lot like Smucker's syrup. As for objecting to the notion of even suggesting that Cupcake wines would go well with cake -- Christ, what doesn't go well with cake?

I've read through the entire 56-page suit, and it looks an awful lot like the good folks at One True Vine want to establish a monopoly on all cake-related wine text and imagery. And yet, One True Vine was established in 2003. We wonder what the folks at Cakebread Cellars (est. 1973) think about that?