Diageo has filed a motion to dismiss a class action lawsuit that alleges its tequilas are falsely described as “100% agave”.
The Florida lawsuit, relating to the booze giant’s Don Julio and Casamigos brands, was “implausible” and “lacking legal and logical merit”, Diageo said.
It is one of several legal challenges that have been mounted against Diageo North America this year concerning the purity of its tequilas.
In May, a class action filed in federal court in New York accused Diageo of falsely advertising Casamigos and Don Julio tequilas as ‘100% agave’, claiming they contained other alcohols and therefore did not meet US or Mexican standards for pure tequila.
A product labelled 100% agave must be made only from blue weber agave and less than 1% additives (by volume) to enhance flavour, colour, and texture.
Any tequila which does not meet this standard would be classified as a mixto, which cannot be described as 100% agave.
‘Copycat’ lawsuit
The Florida lawsuit was in effect a “copycat” of the New York filing, submitted 10 days earlier, Diageo said.
The London-listed drinks company, which is the largest producer of tequila by retail sales value in the world, has previously pledged to “vigorously defend the quality and integrity” of its brands against “misinformation and lies”.
The allegation that Diageo’s tequilas contain non-agave alcohol sources rested upon “incomplete and vaguely described results from a single European company”, a Diageo spokesman said.
The test was “unvalidated” and “purportedly performed on one sample of Diageo’s Casamigos and one sample of its Don Julio brand tequila”, the spokesman claimed.
“[The] plaintiffs’ claims are not only false, they are the definition of implausible,” they said. “Their [testing] theory is the equivalent of someone claiming the earth is flat because he saw a ‘test’ result somewhere that says his neighbor’s backyard is level.
“Diageo does not rely (as plaintiffs attempt to do) on a single scientifically unproven, post-production ‘test’ to determine the agave content of its tequilas,” the spokesman continued. “Instead, Diageo relies on [a]… robust, real-world version of multi-factor authentication that incorporates at least a dozen different layers of verification.
The Florida lawsuit rested on the “claim that the hundreds of people involved in the making of Casamigos and Don Julio tequilas… are lying and complicit in a massive, years-long consumer deception”, the spokesperson said.
“As previously stated, we are confident in our defence as all bottled Casamigos and Don Julio tequilas labelled as ‘100% agave’ are just that,” they added.
Broader industry contention
It comes amid broader contention over transparency and the use of additives in the production of tequila.
In April, exports of Patrón were temporarily halted by The Tequila Regulatory Council – the official body responsible for ensuring all tequila production complies with internationally recognised standards – after the brand refused to remove a ‘100% additive-free’ claim from US advertising.
The regulator rescinded the ban after the Bacardi-owned brand removed the phrase from the Patrón website.
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