French wine scandal in the US

[The Larch]

In case wine connoisseus (Minsky and Gupta, basically) are interested.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8520980.stm

France wine producers guilty of US scandal

A dozen French winemakers and traders have been found guilty of a massive scam to sell 18 million bottles of fake Pinot Noir to a leading US buyer.

The judge in Carcassonne, south-west France, said the producers and traders had severely damaged the reputation of the Langedoc region.

The 12 more than doubled profits passing off the wine to E and J Gallo under its Red Bicyclette brand.

E and J Gallo was not involved in the court case.

In a statement on its website it said it was "deeply disappointed" to learn its supplier, Sieur d'Arques, had been found guilty of selling falsely labelled French Pinot Noir.

'No complaints'

The court ruled the 12 had deliberately and repeatedly mislabelled the wine as one of the more expensive varieties of grape in order to get a better price from E and J Gallo.

The Red Bicyclette Pinot Noir single grape wine is hugely popular in the United States.

French Customs officers spotted the swindle and called in investigators.

They found the amount of Pinot Noir being sold to Gallo was far more than the region produced.

Some of those in the scandal were not even Pinot Noir producers.

The judge handed out suspended jail sentences ranging from one month to six months for the most prominent wine trader and ordered all the defendants to pay fines.

The fines ranged from 1,500 euros ($2,050; £1,300) to the top figure of 180,000 euros ($247,050; £156,500) for Sieur d'Arques. The judge said that the accused together made seven million euros in profits from the scam.

The judge said: "The scale of the fraud caused severe damage for the wines of the Languedoc for which the United States is an important outlet."

A lawyer for Sieur d'Arques, Jean-Marie Bourland, told Agence France-Presse: "There is no prejudice. Not a single American consumer complained."

A lawyer for three other defendants argued his clients had delivered a wine that had Pinot Noir characteristics.

E and J Gallo said it was no longer selling any of the wine to its customers.

Feel free to add the Simpsons' screencap with the French winemakers spiking wine with antifreeze.

[The Larch]

By the way, the Guardian article is funnier to read. BBC can be too cold and institutional at times. 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/feb/17/gallo-conned-french-fake-pinot-noir

Ce n'est pas pinot noir: E&J Gallo conned into buying cheap plonk from French vineyards

The Californian wine buff testing his glass of wine in the sunshine might have noticed many things from his mouthful of Red Bicyclette pinot noir: "dark fruit aromas", as the website proudly proclaims, or "flavours of black cherry and ripe plum". But if he had paused a little longer and maybe sniffed a little deeper, the connoisseur might have detected another, rather different note: the bitter taste of being had.

[CountDeMoney]

In case wine connoisseus (Minsky and Gupta, basically) are interested.

Meh, I thought only pretentious "smarter-than-thou" intellisnots would be winetards.  Oh.  Wait.

Fucking wine fags.

[DontSayBanana]

I seem to recall a piece a while back suggesting certain "wine connoseiurs" could more accurately be described as "wine cons;" the piece suggested that they were making claims that couldn't possibly be backed up by the normal human olfactory sense.

[DisturbedPervert]

Crap I hope this never happens with boxes of Franzia

[Caliga]

I avoid French wines.

Italian, Spanish, American, and Oz/Nz wines are all that I permit in my home.

[Razgovory]

The Red Bicyclette Pinot Noir single grape wine is hugely popular in the United States.

You can make a wine with one grape?  Huh, must be a big grape.

[Gups]

I avoid French wines.

Italian, Spanish, American, and Oz/Nz wines are all that I permit in my home.

This would have looked American unless you read the label carefully. Of course, anyone buying Gallo isn't going to be bothered about what it tastes like.

[The Minsky Moment]

This story is a good illustration of the idiocy that goes on in the wine trade.  Pinot Noir is "hot" b/c of the sideways movie.  The problem is the pinot noir is a very tricky grape to grow and only makes decent wine in certain climates and soils.  The Languedoc is a completely unsuitable region for growing Pinot Noir, and I have never tasted, seen nor heard of decent pinot noir being grown there.  The only reason to consider sourcing PN grapes there would be that it is much cheaper than Burgundy and thus could hit Gallo's price point (with plenty of room for a fat profit margin). 

Syrah OTOH is a good warm weather grape that thrives in the Languedoc; apparently the scam here consisted of replacing Pinot with a Syrah-Merlot blend.  The irony here is that the consumer was probably far better off drinking the Syrah-Merlot blend than whatever crappy pinot noir that could be extracted out of Languedoc.  No doubt that is how the Languedoc producers justified their fraud to themselves.

[Brazen]

Heh, I like the idea of a court at Carcassonne.

lol can i be: cathars

[The Minsky Moment]

In case wine connoisseus (Minsky and Gupta, basically) are interested.

Meh, I thought only pretentious "smarter-than-thou" intellisnots would be winetards. 

"-you" not "-thou"

We pretentious intellisnots prefer the formal to the familiar second person.  Unless we've had too much wine.

[garbon]

Meh, I thought only pretentious "smarter-than-thou" intellisnots would be winetards.  Oh.  Wait.

Fucking wine fags.

Joan told me it was my destiny to become one.

[Valmy]

I avoid French wines.

Italian, Spanish, American, and Oz/Nz wines are all that I permit in my home.

This would have looked American unless you read the label carefully. Of course, anyone buying Gallo isn't going to be bothered about what it tastes like.

Haterade fail

[Agelastus]

I avoid French wines.

Italian, Spanish, American, and Oz/Nz wines are all that I permit in my home.

I avoid all wines.

I much prefer spirits.

[MadImmortalMan]

apparently the scam here consisted of replacing Pinot with a Syrah-Merlot blend.  The irony here is that the consumer was probably far better off drinking the Syrah-Merlot blend than whatever crappy pinot noir that could be extracted out of Languedoc. 

Too true.