Here is a great article from AFP I picked off Goggle, about the fake Pinot Noir Gallo was buying for their “La Byciclette” so called Pinot Noir and guess what?…one of the other mass producers of wine – Constellation – was also buying cheap Pinot Noir, as per the NY Times, Eric Asimov…and all that is followed by another article link at the end talking about Constellation’s $25,000 contribution to Governor Paterson, all while lobbying for the sale of wine in NY supermarkets…I could not have come up with a better story if I tried.
Constellation still selling wine from convicted supplier
(AFP) – 2 days ago
PARIS — Constellation Brands, the world’s top wine group, said Friday it was still selling wine bought from a French supplier convicted this week of sending fake pinot noir to the United States.
The US group said it had bought 10 percent of the 18 million bottles of fake pinot noir that the Sieur d’Arques company shipped to Constellation, E&J Gallo and other US clients between 2006 and 2008.
Sieur d’Arques was fined 180,000 euros (240,000 dollars) Wednesday by a French court that handed out fines and suspended jail terms to 12 makers and dealers for passing off red wine from cheaper syrah and merlot grapes as pinot red.
Cheryl Gossin, a US-based spokeswoman for Constellation, said that after the allegations of fraud emerged against Sieur d’Arques it took action to ensure the wine it received after the years covered by the court ruling was authentic.
“Constellation had independent experts test the French pinot noir shipped in 2009. It was confirmed to be pinot noir,” Gossin wrote in an email to AFP. The pinot noir the group received last year was the 2008 vintage.
She wrote that, despite the French court’s conclusion that Sieur d’Arques shipped phoney pinot between 2006 and 2008, the wine Constellation received in those years was “tested internally and found to be pinot noir.”
That wine has already been sold and is no longer available in the marketplace, she added.
Gallo, a major US wine producer, said after the court verdict that it had bought less than 20 percent of the falsely labelled pinot noir and was no longer selling any to customers.
Pinot noir became popular among American wine drinkers after the 2004 film “Sideways” about two friends who go on a wine-tasting trip in California.
The US federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) said its agents were not involved in the affair because there was as yet no evidence that a fraud had been carried out on US soil.
But a spokeswoman said the ATF would investigate Constellation and Gallo if it were suspected that they were aware of the scam by the French suppliers and then knowingly sold cheaper wine as pinot to US consumers.
Those convicted by the court in the southwestern French town of Carcassonne included executives from wine estates, cooperatives, a broker, wine merchant Ducasse and the Sieur d’Arques group.
The judge said the accused made seven million euros (9.8 million dollars) in profits from the scam, with Ducasse raking in 3.7 million euros and Sieur d’Arques 1.3 million euros.
On edit…
This is what happens when you buy and drink, cheap, mass produced wines…and it is one of the main reasons why I started Rad Grapes – to give consumers options in purchasing and drinking really great, quality artisanal wines, sourced from real farmers, at a great price point -0therwise, you really don’t know what you are drinking…Pinot Noir for $9 a bottle? Really? I have always told my customers that it is impossible to produce a Pinot Noir at such a price point….and I guess I was right, because it is not real Pinot Noir.
If you are buying wine only based on price point at your local wine shop this is what you end up with – not exactly what you expected and paid for – and that is exactly what NY consumers will end up with if Supermarkets are allowed to sell wine in NY – garbage and plonk at great price points….Good luck with that one, because they are also greasing the political palms in NY, while selling fake wine… what am I talking about?
Victor, N.Y. —
Constellation Brands Inc. denied Thursday that its $25,000 campaign contribution to the re-election of Gov. David Paterson was tied to Paterson’s proposal to allow wine sales in grocery stores. Interesting huh? read more…
So there you have it: selling what amounts to fake, cheap “not Pinot Noir”, while contributing $$$ to the NY Governor and lobbying to push allowing wine sales in supermarkets…Really? There are just so many thing wrong with this story on so many levels, that I don’t know where to begin. Real wines come from farmers and not factories…keep that in mind when shopping for wine next time. Cheers…
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