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Home > Blogs > Uncorked > Archives > 2010 > February > 03 > Entry
When is a pinot noir not really a pinot noir? French prosecutor thinks he knows
Check out this story from Decanter.com entitled “Charges brought in Pinot Noir-Red Bicyclette scandal”.
I know, I know, this type of thing has been going on for years, etc. etc. Maybe I’m naive, but I still find this stunning, particularly the scope of the allegations. Thirteen defendants? And a small lake of wine that was passed off as pinot when it was, in fact, something else?
I just wonder whether there was perhaps just a hint of, “Oh, we’ll just sell it to the Americans — they’ll never be able to tell the difference anyway” attitude at work here. Ya THINK??
Have you had any unusually dark-colored, full-bodied, relatively inexpensive “pinot noir” lately?
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Comments
By Steve
February 5, 2010 10:31 AM | Link to this
I find it incredulous that E&J Gallo values its Customer/consumers so lowly. Simple math would dictate how much juice can be produced from so many hectares. Their silence is DEAFENING. Where is BATF in all this? Why aren’t they screaming about the charade on the US Consumer that Gallo seemed to willfully ignore? This is bad business ethics, pure and simple. Why isn’t this on the 6:60PM NEWS? Where’s the consumer protection advocates? Blah Blah Blah. Shame on you E&J Gallo, and shame on the growers as well.
By Jim L
February 4, 2010 8:07 PM | Link to this
Do you think Gallo will pull all the Bicyclette off the shelves? It will be interesting to see how they handle the damage control on this embarrassment. Tiger, then Toyota, now Gallo. My how the high and mighty do fall from grace.
By wine-o
February 4, 2010 12:09 PM | Link to this
Gallo was absolutely aware of this, as one comment astutely noted they were receiving 10x more wine than those suppliers were able to produce. Shocker. No surprise that Gallo is “strangely silent” on this issue, or that the french govt. decided to bash the small time suppliers instead of taking on the mammoth company. What is truly shocking here is that what is a rampant problem in the wine industry doesn’t see the light of day more frequently. Know your source, know your producer, buy from small estate wineries that put quality first and this sort of thing won’t affect you.
By chiefwino
February 3, 2010 9:54 PM | Link to this
I can’t believe a company like Gallo was not aware of the problem and/or complicit in the deception. How can you buy 3.6 million gallons or 843,750 cases without checking on the product? That is a lot of red bicycles.