Official wine of the 2022 Emmys is from a Paso Robles winery accused of sexual harassment

Justin Vineyards & Winery of Paso Robles — one of the best-known winemakers on California’s Central Coast — has been named the “official wine partner of the 2022 Emmy Awards season.”

Cheers to that, right?

Wrong, because while the wine itself may be tasty, it’s tainted by serious allegations of misconduct on the part of Justin’s management.

The winery owned by Stewart and Lynda Resnick’s Wonderful Co. faces a federal lawsuit accusing it of allowing rampant sexual harassment and retaliation to continue for years.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleges male managers were “allowed to sexually harass female employees on a daily basis through unwanted and repeated sexual advances, sexual comments and sexually offensive conduct, including unwelcome physical contact.”

When the women complained, they allegedly were assigned double shifts, accused of wrongdoing, yelled at, laughed at and verbally berated, among other retaliatory acts.

The EEOC gave Justin an opportunity to resolve the case, but it failed to do so, which led to the next step: filing a lawsuit that seeks compensation for the women who reported the abuse.

The Television Academy’s response

The Television Academy announced its partnership with Justin just days before the EEOC issued a news release about the lawsuit, creating an awkward situation for an industry whose every move is scrutinized.

In response to questions, it offered a brief, written statement to The Tribune: “The Television Academy has a longstanding policy against harassment of any kind and stands united with those speaking out against harassment of all forms. We have spoken with Justin Vineyards & Winery, which strongly denies it did anything improper and intends to defend Justin against these claims. We encourage you to reach out to Justin regarding this matter.”

In other words, the Academy is taking the word of the accused over the accusers.

For the record, Tribune reporters did reach out to Justin Winery during their initial reporting on the case. The company had little to say beyond issuing a blanket denial, which isn’t unusual for a business involved in litigation.

We also should point out that a lawsuit is just one side of the story, although in this case, the story was vetted by a federal agency that found there was reasonable cause to believe Justin had violated anti-discrimination law.

Given that, it’s a bad look for the Television Academy to now cozy up to an alleged harasser when Hollywood has been so outspoken in support of the #MeToo movement following repeated, high-profile cases.

Look at Harvey Weinstein, Bill Cosby, Kevin Spacey, Chris Noth, Steven Seagal and Mario Batali, to name just a few of the former A-listers now regarded as pariahs, and with good reason.

Shouldn’t that same concern for victims of sexual harassment apply to those outside the industry?

And why give a spotlight to a winery with such a lousy track record?

It’s not as if there aren’t other award-winning wineries to partner with — ones that don’t have the baggage Justin is carrying around.

‘Justin in the news for doing something awful — again’

This isn’t the first time Justin Winery has offended the community.

Locals were outraged when it clear-cut thousands of oak trees and illegally graded a hillside in 2016. That led to a stop-work order from the county and ultimately resulted in the passage of an oak-tree protection ordinance.

It also prompted a letter of apology from the Resnicks. They wrote that they were sorry and ashamed and admitted to being “asleep at the wheel.”

The letter closed this way: “We look forward to working together to earn the support and trust of the Paso Robles community.”

The Resnicks went on to make some substantial donations to the community, including $2.5 million to Cal Poly’s viticulture program. Along with other donations, that contribution funded the Justin and J. LOHR Center for Wine and Viticulture.

That’s all well and good, but some six years later, it seems the Wonderful Co. is no more awake today than it was back then. And as for earning back trust? Good luck with that.

So no, not all has been forgiven.

One reader on Facebook summed up the situation well: “Justin in the news for doing something awful — again.”

Others chimed in with complaints about grapes sucking up groundwater and big business taking over small, family-owned farms.

Still, Justin wine has its loyal fan base — and some may be in the audience at the upcoming Emmy events, where its wine will be “exclusively poured.”

For those who prefer to quaff something less controversial, there will be other “official” beverages, including Franciacorta sparkling wine and Ketel One Vodka.

There will be plenty of bottled water as well — Fiji Water, compliments of The Wonderful Co.

Bottoms up, Hollywood!

This story was originally published September 2, 2022 at 11:00 AM.