Garry Crittenden's wine stoush with Woolworths spills over to social media

A long-running stoush over the name of a budget wine brand that has pitted industry ''living legend'' Garry Crittenden against retailer Woolworths has spilled over into social media.

Mr Crittenden, of Crittenden Estate in Dromana on Victoria's Mornington Peninsula, is trying to distance his premium wines from the food and liquor giant's ultra-cheap Crittenden & Co brand, which was launched in 2003 and sells for $4.99.

Garry Crittenden is concerned about Woolworths' Crittenden & Co wine.Credit: Jay Cronan

Mr Crittenden says Woolworths' move to launch the Crittenden & Co brand had sparked confusion among consumers and led to a ''significant'' number of emails to his winery.

In an email sent to wine and food industry professionals, which he requested be circulated on social media forums, Mr Crittenden said many of the emails he received voiced concerns about Crittenden & Co wines and they were sent to his winery with the belief that Crittenden Estate had made the wine.

''That is most certainly not the case - and it is of great concern to us that there is confusion over who does make Crittenden & Co wines,'' he said. ''If the adverse comments we receive about this wine are indicative of how it's perceived in the marketplace … I believe there must be an adverse effect on the name and reputation of our family winery.

''Anecdotally we know that people are confused and dismayed to think that we are the makers of these wines.'' Mr Crittenden's family has been making wine on the estate since 1984.

A spokesperson for Woolworths, which owns the Dan Murphy's and BWS liquor stores, said the group had purchased the Crittenden & Co retail brand in 1987 through the acquisition of ''a well established chain of wine stores in Melbourne'' of the same name.

''The Crittenden & Co Wine brand had been on the market for three years before Garry Crittenden registered the Crittenden Estate name in 2007. Prior to that he was selling his wine using the primary brand names Dromana Estate, Schinus and i.''

But Mr Crittenden said the Crittenden name had been on the front of his label continuously since 1995.

''The ironic thing is that Coles and Woolworths sold our brand from the mid-1990s so they can't claim to be unfamiliar with the name.''

Mr Crittenden is a well-known figure in the wine industry and was last year awarded ''living legend'' status by the Melbourne Food and Wine Tourism Festival committee.

Despite a number of years of negotiation, culminating in the failure to reach an agreement with Woolworths over the name last year, Mr Crittenden said he felt that to initiate legal proceedings was both expensive and risky. ''As a result, I felt that sending a letter to my contacts in the wine industry and elsewhere … would be one way to draw attention to my problem and, hopefully, go a long way towards clarifying the facts about the situation.''