A dark wine secret is spilled

The wine world swirls with tales of mislabelled wine, but this week one case came to light. So why did it take so long for authorities to notice that Shiraz and Merlot was being sold as Pinot Noir? asks JOHN WILSON

THE WORLD of French wine was thrown into disarray earlier this week when a French court found 12 individuals guilty of selling incorrectly labelled wine. Claude Courset of wine dealer Ducasse was given a six-month suspended sentence and a fine of €45,000 (he said on Thursday that he may appeal, claiming his wine is “irreproachable”). Others were fined up to €180,000 for selling almost 20 million bottles of wine incorrectly labelled as Pinot Noir to US wine giant EJ Gallo.

Pinot Noir is one of the most sought-after grape varieties. Winemakers around the world have spent the past 30 years trying to replicate the refined elegant flavours found in red Burgundy, the original Pinot Noir. The problem is Pinot is a very difficult grape to grow, very fussy about the climate and always yielding far less than most other vines. A few regions have succeeded, mainly those with cooler climates, but most have failed.

Following the huge success of the 2004 film Sideways, in which the hero adores Pinot Noir, demand for the variety soared in the US. Gallo wanted to produce a Pinot Noir as part of its French Red Bicyclette range, and approached Sieur d'Arques in the south of France.

Sieur d’Arques is a very large co-operative responsible for 80 per cent of the wines produced in Limoux, a region in the hills south of the city of Carcasonne in the Languedoc. Limoux is noted for producing the best Pinot Noir in the region. However, it could not possibly meet the demand, which is where Ducasse came in. It bought Merlot and Syrah from local co-operatives, and sold it on as Pinot Noir.

A local source argues that “Sieur d’Arques gave them the mission to buy Pinot Noir, and was the washing machine. But everybody concerned must have known. The eight co-ops, Ducasse and Sieur d’Arques as well.”

Another grower in the Limoux area pointed out that, at one stage, Sieur d’Arques was selling more than the entire production of Pinot Noir in the Languedoc. Did Gallo know? The company denies any knowledge, and it was not accused of anything in court.

So how could such a large number of people be taken in by the fraud? Usually it is quite easy to tell a Pinot Noir, sometimes merely by looking at it. The variety has very thin skins. In Burgundy and elsewhere it is very pale in colour and low in tannins. Those produced in warmer climates tend to be fuller in body, with a bit more colour. However, Merlot and Syrah generally have a far deeper hue.

It also tastes very different. Blind tasting is far from an exact science, and less expensive wines tend to show less varietal character. Lawyers for Ducasse argued that nobody – Gallo, the wine press, or the American consumer – ever raised any suspicions about the wine. I have never tasted the wine in question, but a colleague who has was less than complementary.

Of course, one key indicator is price – given

the demand for Pinot

Noir, the market price is higher than all other grape varieties. It is clear that from the start, Ducasse was buying Pinot Noir from the co-operatives at well under market price, which should have raised a few eyebrows.

The wine world is full of dark tales of mislabelled wine. But proving any actual fraud is very difficult. At present there is no scientific method of guaranteeing that a particular wine is made from the stated grape or even that it comes from a particular area.

Yet, all producers must keep records of everything they grow, make and sell, so it should be theoretically possible to trace. However, there will always be a huge temptation to relabel wine as coming from a more sought-after region, or being made from a more desirable grape variety.