It was a battle waged quietly on the bureaucratic battlefield of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. On one side was Fairview, a South African winery notable for its spunk and for delivering wine with wit. On the other side was the Institute National des Appellations d’Origine, defender and regulator of French wine place names (not notable for its sense of humor). At issue were a pair of Fairview wines called Goats do Roam and Goat-Roti, names that cheekily allude to Cotes du Rhone, rivers of which are produced, and Cote Rotie, a hallowed Rhone appellation. Available here only since 2001, the “Goats” wines quickly became the largest selling South African wine brand in America. In 2004, more than 11,000 cases of Goats do Roam were sold in New York, an increase of 40% over 2003.

Over the protest of the INAO, Goats do Roam got its U.S. trademark last September. But it was only last week, according to Fairview proprietor Charles Back, that he was notified that Goat-Rotie’s trademark has also been approved. “What makes me mad,” said Mr. Back in a telephone interview, “is that I already owned the trademark in the United Kingdom since 1998 without objection from the French.” The front labels of both Goats do Roam and Goat-Rotie clearly state that they are products of South Africa.

“The French action cost us $100,000 in legal fees,” said Mr. Back. “That money could have been put to so much better use.”

The Goats wines come by their name honestly, as I discovered last spring during a visit to the winery, located in Paarl, a 45-minute drive from Cape Town. In front of the visitor-friendly winery is a rugged stone tower with a ramp spiraling around it. Some sort of dead monument, I assumed, until a white goat popped its head out of a window at the top of the tower and stared down at me. Another was right behind it. “We have about 800 Saalan goats, a white Swiss breed, which provide milk to our cheese factory,” a guide told me. “Each week, the goat that produces the most milk is awarded an all expenses paid, free weekend in the tower suite. It’s an incentive program.”

Neither Fairview’s contretemps with the French nor its goat motif would mean much if the wines were unworthy of the attention. In fact, Goats do Roam, widely available at about $8, is a blended wine that packs a wallop of earthy, straight-on flavor. It has neither the edge of induced sweetness nor of artificial oakiness that can creep into some other high volume “engineered” wines. A step up in price, at about $11, is Goats do Roam in Villages, just as Cotes du Rhone Villages is a step up from basic Cotes du Rhone. There’s also a Goats do Roam White, blended from an off-beat trio of Clairette, Grenache Blanc, and a rarity called Cruchen Blanc.

Goat-Rotie is the top of the Goats line. Vinified from 95% Shiraz and 5% Viognier, Goat-Roti’s grape profile closely parallel’s that of Cote Rotie, although, at about $18, it’s far less expensive than its French namesake. “As a South African winemaker, I feel we have to over deliver at each price point,” Mr. Back told me. Rubbing salt in the French wound, certainly self-inflicted, is the appearance of Goat Roti on this year’s “Top 100” wine list published by the Wine Spectator magazine. Awarded 91 points, Goat-Roti placed 58th on the list.

While Goats do Roam gets down and dirty in the mass market, Mr. Back also crafts a range of deep and concentrated shirazes under the Red Seal label. They include “Solitude,” “Beacon,” and “Cyril Back,” this last named for Mr. Back’s father, whose own father, an immigrant from Lithuania, purchased the property. There’s no humor expressed on the labels, just an effort to fine-tune these shirazes to make them true to their harsh South African soil, yet respectful of their Rhone Valley antecedents. On the day I met Mr. Back last spring at Fairview, he told me that his wife had gone to a concert on the previous evening, leaving him home alone in their restored 18th-century farmhouse on a Paarl hillside.

“I have a whole collection of Cote Rotie and Hermitage stashed away,” said Mr. Back. “I opened a couple of them side by side with my own wines. I sat there in the quiet house and compared them. I want my wines to share a connection with the French wines when it comes to structure and feel, and then add a layer of fruity dimension that is true South African.”

Recommended Wines

FAIRVIEW VIOGNIER 2003, $15.95 Like Condrieu, its pricey Rhone counterpart, this fragrant, heady white wine evokes the ripest, spiciest peach you’d ever hope to pluck from a tree in Georgia. Fairview pioneered Viognier in South Africa. Gains nothing with age. Widely available.

FAIRVIEW “SOLITUDE” SHIRAZ 2001, $25.99 Despite its potentially tiring 15% alcohol, this wine’s hallmark is smoothness with dark-berry flavors that run deep. Like all the Red Seal shirazes, this one is best opened a full day before drinking. Available at PJ Wines, 4898 Broadway, 212-567-5500.

FAIRVIEW “BEACON” SHIRAZ 2001, $28.95 Not quite as massive as “Solitude,” but still plenty to chew on. Pomegranate and eucalyptus notes put a bright edge on this wine. This will face down strong cheese. Available at Sherry-Lehmann, 679 Madison Ave., 212-838-7500.

FAIRVIEW PRIMO PINOTAGE 2002, $24.95 A South African specialty based on the pinot noir grape, Pinotage doesn’t get much respect, but this rendition should make converts. Big and deep, with black cherry aromas and flavors, creamy texture, and a finish that doesn’t want to quit. Has the finesse that this wine usually lacks. If there is a better pinotage, I haven’t tasted it. At Sherry-Lehmann.