Fake Pinot Noir Scam

Today my Google Reader sent me 114 posts about this wine scam of over 18 million bottles of Pinot Noir. Those 18 million bottles were sold as Red Bicyclette to E&J Gallo here in California, less than 20% of the number of bottles that actually were released. This red blend from Languedoc, France consisting of Merlot and Syrah sells for half the price as the "pure" Pinot Noir from the same region. Six have been arrested in the scheme and about a dozen vintners have been fined heavily for their participation.

I love that the reason they were actually caught wasn't because some wine genius tasted the wine and thought that is wasn't quite right but that the exports from the Languedoc-Roussillon area far exceeded historic levels and what is a physically possible amount of pure Pinot Noir.

Now Red Bicyclette sells for about $9 a bottle and can be found in general stores as a maintenance wine. The brand in no way tries to be anything fancy or even high quality. Wine snobs wouldn't dare touch the stuff as cheap Pinot Noir is an oxymoron. It's a hard grape to work with and will usually be worth spending a little bit more on. At this price point the importers probably tasted it and could tell there was a little bit of another grape in there to tame the Pinot - but here in the US, as long as the primary grape is 75% of the formula, the wine can be labeled as that varietal.

Honestly it's not surprising. I've written about counterfeit alcohol before and I will do it again. For me it's not the scam itself that makes me mad, it's the attitude behind it.

Jean-Marie Bourland, a lawyer for Sieur d'Arques, did not rule out an appeal. "There is no prejudice. Not a single American consumer complained," he argued. Pierre Dounac, lawyer for three defendants including Ducasse's director Claude Courset, argued that his clients had done no harm as they had delivered a wine with the characteristics of Pinot Noir.from Yahoo News

Americans will drink anything and Pinot is trendy and hot right now is the message being sent. I sincerely hope that the wine region will not be damaged much as they do export some amazing wines but really? We may be stupid enough to buy a $9 Wine - heck we even gave it a few awards. We just ask that you be honest about the label and don't insult us when you lie. The average wine drinker would still probably buy it for it's cute name.