Massive wine fraud in France

More fraud, 68000 cases.

My gut feel is that we only see the tip of the iceberg with these kinds of stories. The 85/15 rules for multi-vintage blending seem a ripe target for misbehavior.

Incentives drive behavior: what happens when a 2016 Bordeaux is priced 2x the 2013?

No this can’t be true. They were surely just a little behind with their paperwork…

$1,600,000 / 68,000 cases = $23.59/cs.

Low level wines.
Fines well below the “value” of the wines.
Nobody going to jail.

“Massive fraud”? Somebody should sue the Wine Spectator for misleading labeling. Ho hum. Sounds like minor fiddle, slap on the wrist, business as usual.

Apocryphal story from long ago when I was in France. 2PM. Guys in the winery are running some wine from tank ‘A’ to tank ‘B’, which do not contain wines of the same Appellation. Inspector from Fraud Repression walks in, knows exactly what is happening, which is essentially nothing, as both wines are cheap and innocuous and both will probably benefit from the unauthorized blending. He screams at the workers and manager: “I’m going to lunch. I get off work at 6PM. You idiots will have to work a little later than that!”.

Dan Kravitz

Look out Michel Rolland. Maybe Rudy Kurniawan is gaining a foothold in the consulting game.

These regions spend so much time and effort on branding, advertising, tastings, museums - and then on reckless/greedy merchant sabotages all that good work. So sad to see.

I will boycott the 2013 Bordeaux vintage in response to this news.

Looks to be a bit larger that what WS reported - 66 Million bottles or well over 5 Million cases . . .

Completely different scam. This one sounds like something worth talking about. The one in the thread, not necessarily.

I don’t know if Arv R is serious or tongue-in-cheek. I am boycotting red Bordeaux from the 2013 vintage because it is Ptrid Swll, an historically bad vintage. Yes, yes, I know some people busted ass and made adequate wine, but nothing drinkable at prices I’m willing to pay.

Dan Kravitz

You’ve been around long enough to have experienced 1992. Nothing has been that bad.

How low? $20/bottle?

This is the stuff i buy in French restaurants

I like the conversation. A few answers and comments:

To J Coley: I’ve experienced 1992 and 2013. IMO 2013 is at least as bad. Please remember that I’ve been around long enough to remember 1963 and 1965. 2013 is at least as bad.

to Greg Xu: Yes, these wines would be presented as $20 wines on screaming sale at about $15.99, with producer, importer, wholesaler and retailer each doubling their money and the consumer getting meh at best, ptrid swll at worst, with no medical complications.

to Alan Eden: The stuff I buy in French restaurants tends more towards Coche-Dury, Courcel, d’Angerville and Raveneau, at less than half US retail.


Dan Kravitz

1968?

Yup, forgot it, sorry. 60’s was the 6tophrenic decade, with really good ('60, 62, 67), really great ('61, 66), really irregular ('64) and bad to unbelievably bad ('63, 65, 68 and maybe 69).

FWIW, I’ll be doing a Lanessan vertical sometime probably this year. I’ve got '66 and '82 and a bunch going forward, dumpster diving on wine-searcher for other 30+ year vintages.

Dan Kravitz

These kind of frauds, which are done just to make a bit more money on big-volume wines, don’t really affect us because we already know that the name of the producer is really important. However, it does damage the reputation of wine in general and French quality wine in particular, among normal consumers.

Like all wine fraud, it’s easy to be dismissive about the victims for paying over the odds at the supermarket or liquor chain to have Chateauneuf du Pape on their dinner table. Similarly, many people viewed Kurniawan’s victims and those who get caught every year as an en-primeur merchant goes bust as daft for paying such silly prices for wine.

As with the faking of luxury handbags, the real victims are the companies and people who stick by the rules and make authentic products.

throw in 1991-1995

1991 is definitely worse on the right bank (many wines declassified) and not really better on the left bank (than 1992).
Hard to compare 2013 at this stage, but I´ve rarely seen that much “brown” in young wines like in 2013 …

"Investigators were alerted to the alleged fraud during a routine audit of GVG’s massive cellar in St.-Loubès on Bordeaux’s Right Bank in 2014. They found that Borie Manoux, a négociant firm also owned by the Castéja family that uses the GVG cellar, was missing 200,000 liters of wine, while GVG had mysteriously gained 220,000 liters. "

If I only had a dollar for every time I’ve mysteriously gained 220,000 liters…

Bruce

And the alcohol level also mysteriously decreased by 10%

Dan Kravitz