There Will Be Blood

True grievance or flagrant publicity stunt? Lawyers are revving their engines as domestic diva Martha Stewart is rumored to be sued by Vampire Vineyards for what the gossip rags quote "to disparage and tarnish [Vampire's] wine brands by portraying a mock label of Vampire Vineyards affixed to cheap, non-descript wine and spirits products."

Furthermore, and not necessarily quoted from a reliable source, the rumors suggest that the lawsuit also alleges that Stewart is engaging in this "smear campaign" to further sales of her own branded wine that the Gallo company produces for her.

After a little digging online, it looks to me like this incident may have been triggered by Martha's latest craft offering, showcased, among other places, in the October issue of Country Living Magazine.

Which would mean she's being sued over this:

what she would no doubt describe as festive, crafty labels that you can buy and apply to your own bottles of wine to liven up your Halloween.

And if that's the case, then the whole issue smells like a cooked up fish stew to me. Or should that be a nice juicy pot of pig's blood porridge? Your honor, I move to dismiss.

Straight from the horse's mouth.

Posted by: Alder on September 8, 2010 9:00 PM: Tweet; Share this post elsewhere: Digg it! - Add to del.icio.us - Add to Stumbleupon - Add to Reddit; Filed under: Ramblings and Rants , Wine News

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Comments (3)

Jenny Freck wrote:

09.13.10 at 5:51 AM

Really what else could you sue over?

Jon wrote:

09.13.10 at 12:59 PM

Sounds more like a publicity stunt by Vampire Vineyards. It wouldn't be the first time a company sued someone to get their name in the press (only a few months before Halloween no less). Personally, I think Martha's crafty labels are kind of cool for a Halloween party, and since Vampire Vineyards did not invent vampires nor wine, I agree this one is just a waste of legal resources.

Debbie The Wine Lady wrote:

09.18.10 at 9:36 AM

The alleged suit is ridiculous. First, where did Vampire Vineyards get the idea that any theme related to blood belongs to them? Second, it's just dumb to suggest that these crafty labels would disparage their "fine wine": I've sold it and it's not a whole lot better than "cheap, non-descript stuff." And finally, I agree with the previous comment that Vampire Vineyards is going for the publicity: what, all those vampire movies didn't do the trick?