GALLO RIVAL SEES SUIT OVER LABEL REJECTED.

Byline: Mark Evans Associated Press 

After staring at what looked like a banquet table of chardonnay, a federal jury Friday rejected a $30 million lawsuit accusing E&J Gallo of copying a rival winery's autumn-leaf label.

The jury found that Gallo, in marketing its Turning Leaf wine, did not deliberately duplicate the look of Kendall-Jackson Winery's Vintner's Reserve brand to fool shoppers.

The labels on both bottles are white and depict a grape leaf in a mixture of autumn colors - oranges, yellows, reds and greens.

At one point, the collection of bottles introduced as evidence was so big that jurors had trouble seeing each other across the table, said juror Debby Stephenson.

But a review of the bottles proved one thing: ``There are a lot of leaves out there. The leaves are grape leaves. Wine comes from grapes. So using a grape leaf is not unique,'' she said.

Gallo, a $1 billion-a-year company, is the largest winery in the world. Kendall-Jackson is a midsize winery that grew rapidly in the early 1990s.

A lawyer for Gallo, Joe Cotchett, said the jury vindicated his belief that the lawsuit was a publicity stunt by Kendall-Jackson to sell more wine.

``That's a foolish thought,'' responded Kendall-Jackson owner Jess Jackson. ``It took millions of dollars to try this suit.''

Jackson said he will appeal.

The Santa Rosa-based winery sued Gallo last year, claiming market share for its top-selling Vintner's Reserve brand plummeted after Turning Leaf was introduced in 1995.

Kendall-Jackson charged that Gallo's marketing experts studied its wine for several months, then designed a cheaper product that would confuse shoppers. The winery said Gallo deliberately kept its name off the Turning Leaf brand and also copied the Vintner's Reserve flanged bottle lip.

The case might have won fans for both wines. Mike Willis, the jury foreman, said he isn't a wine drinker. But after the three-week trial, he added, ``I'll probably go out and buy one of each.''