Sad losses and dirty dealings – it’s just another week in the wild world of wine.
© Smiling Pixell/Pixabay | There has been even more underhand behavior than usual in the wine world this week.
This week, the wine world mourned the loss of three big names including French wine taster Michel Dovaz – who was present at the famous Judgement of Paris wine tasting that helped put California’s wine industry on the map – and California’s pioneering winemaker Mike Grgich, whose Château Montelena 1973 Chardonnay took the top spot at that very tasting.
Finally, we learned that Bill Chambers OAM, of Australia’s Chambers Rosewood winery – a Rutherglen flagship – and a legend in the Australian wine industry, also died this week.
Meanwhile, there was some consternation in the wine industry in France this week after the airing of a television documentary covered aspects of fraudulent wine production across the country. While French wine news website Vitisphere decried the programme as “enough to further dampen the morale of a wine industry already facing a crisis lowering consumption”, the main stories in the report will be familiar to regular readers of these pages.
The stories included a look at the activities of Champagne-based wine merchant Didier Chopin (accused of carbonating Spanish wines to be sold as Champagne – see Fraud Claims in Champagne); an overview of the Bordeaux misleading labels fad (see “Bordeaux négociant loses appeal over misleading labels case” in Chianti Stars in Stranger Things, which applies to Pascal Dourthe’s Le Bordeaux de Maucaillou, later B de Maucaillou) and a review of the massive Bordeaux wine fraud ring busted last year – see Bordeaux Fraud Case Kicks Off).
But you knew all that. So here’s some wine headlines you might not have seen this week
Winery charged with “Frenchifying” Spanish wine
A winery owner in the Aude department of southern France was up before a criminal court this week, charged with importing 48 tankers of Spanish wine before bottling it and selling it primarily in northern France as IGP Aude wine.
According to regional newspaper L’Indépendant, the case dates back to 2016 when customs and fraud officers raided an unnamed winery in Limoux after tip-offs from local winegrowers.
“In no time, the investigation brought to light the falsification of wines sold in bulk in which, notably, Spanish wine was resold as French, under the Indication géographie protégée (IGP) Aude title,” said the newspaper.
It is understood that, between 2014 and 2017, 12,776 hectoliters (nearly 1.3 million liters) of Spanish wine were thus fraudulently repackaged with the company in question netting €420,000 (nearly $460,000) in profits.
The 60-year-old owner of the as-yet-unnamed winery appeared at Carcassonne criminal court on Wednesday to answer numerous counts of fraud and deception. He claimed he had been “overwhelmed” at the time, that he was unaware what was going on and that, since 2017, he had hired an assistant.
For their part, the prosecutors showed little sympathy.
“I’m surprised to hear the defendant say he was not aware,” said the lawyer representing France’s appellations body, the INAO. “After all, he has been working with major distribution channels for 30 years. This is not ony an attack on the whole wine industry, but on consumers too.”
In the end, the winery was acquitted of deceptive practices, but was found guilty of the remainder. Both the owner and the winery received fines of €25,000 and €50,000 respectively while compensation, ranging from €1000 to €2500, was ordered for each of the four regional winegrowing unions.
The INAO had demanded €150,000 ($163,000) in fines while the two regional winegrower bodies, the Aude winegrowers’ union and the Aude IGP union, had asked for €20,000 ($22,000) each.
The case falls at a particularly tense time in the region – a fact noted at the trial in which one of the lawyers referred to the 2016 arson of an estate [Domaine Jean Gleyzes] in Ouveillan, just north of Narbonne, by direct action winegrower group, the Comité d’Action Viticole (the CAV). According to the newspaper, the winery had been accused bringing in a “phenomenal quantity” of Spanish wine – over 2.5 million liters – to be relabeled as French wine and sold in bulk to merchants.
More recently, winegrowers in the region made headlines back in October after emptying a wine tanker and trashing pallets of Freixenet Cava on motorway in southern France (see “Tensions rise in southern France” in Threat Claims in Winemaker Libel Saga).
Europe adjusts to labeling laws
One week in from the European Union’s new ingredient labeling laws taking effect, news outlets across France have been coming to terms with the issues surrounding the now-compulsory publication of wine ingredients, albeit predominantly via QR codes on back labels.
“Good news for winegrowers who have been toiling for decades to create, in the face of derision, so-called ‘natural’ wines made from fermented grape juice and nothing else,” was French broadsheet Libération’s opener this week while the predominantly southern-France focused La Dépêche quoted winegrowers there saying the new regulations were “pointless”.
This latter came from Kévin Gessler, co-owner of Domaine de Joÿ, in the Côtes de Gascogne, who told the publication, “when you bring up the QR code, you get the quantity of sulphur, gum arabic, and so on”, adding that this level of detail “doesn’t mean much to anyone”.
Nonetheless, he was concerned the new level of transparency would “stigmatise” the wine industry.
“There’s a worry that this new law will penalize the wine world because the consumer will start to have doubts,” he added.
With the new ruling, all additions made to the wine, particularly allergens, must be published. In official terms, “any substance or product, including flavorings, additives and food enzymes, used in the manufacture of a food”, is classed as an ingredient.
“Grapes, sucrose, concentrated grape must, but also acidity regulator (L tartaric acid), bottling gas, will all now be displayed,” said regional newspaper Nice Matin. “To appear in the new mandatory list, the ingredients must have been used to make the wine and still be present in the finished product.”
“A surprise for consumers,” it went on, “who will discover that their favorite bottle might contain numerous preservatives such as sulfur, egg white, dried fish bladder and so on – harmless ingredients, alongside other, less harmless, chemical compounds.”
Furthermore, the paper also took the opportunity to point out that the ingredients list does not necessarily cover viticulture inputs.
“Residues – particularly from pesticides – are not considered ingredients,” it pointed out. “They therefore escape the labeling obligation.”
It said that ingredients lists might therefore “favor conventional farmers who use pesticides and chemical fertilizers” and who “additionally receive the overwhelming majority of subsidies from the Common Agricultural Policy”.
The rules will apply to wines produced from 8 December onwards, although many wineries have already printed labels with QR codes, in expectation of the ruling (whence the recent news that some labels face destruction for not conforming to EU labeling rules – see “EU label change causes concern” in Messi Scores New Wine Range).
One news outlet pointed out this week that this could mean that the first wines to be subjected to the new labeling laws are, potentially, 2023 Champagnes due to undergo (or undergoing) secondary, in-bottle fermentation at the time of writing.
Australian PM blasted for WA wine visit
Any right-wing politician and a visit to one of Western Australia’s top wine producers would have passed without mention, but Australian premier Anthony Albanese and his partner Jodie Haydon’s visit to Margaret River’s Cullen winery was slammed as “out of touch” by outspoken Liberal Senator Michaela Cash this week.
Unsurprisingly, perhaps, Cash’s sentiments were given headline treatment in the right-wing press, including in major regional broadsheet The West Australian this Friday. Cash blasted Albanese for having a wine tasting at the estate, which included a sip of the $500-a-bottle, 2017 Vanya Flower Day Cabernet Sauvignon – “one of the most expensive wines produced in Margaret River”, said the paper.
Cash framed the visit as being in poor taste in a cost of living crisis. Indeed, Australia’s The Daily Telegraph (part of News Corp, owned by the Murdoch family, which this year had a reported revenue of just under $10 billion) ran with the headline “While Aussies battle cost-of-living crisis, Albo’s sipping $500 wine”.
“Many Australians are battling with even the basics this Christmas — let alone tasting expensive bottles of wine. It’s a grim economic scenario that many Australian households now face this Christmas in particular with food inflation,” said Cash.
While this writer remains no big fan of wines with the kind of price tag the Vanya Flower Day Cabernet Sauvignon is given, Cash’s concern for the financial plight of her fellow Australians is somewhat undermined by her consistent voting against the likes of: increasing housing affordability; paid parental leave equality for stay-at-home mums and dads; a gas price cap; expanding publicly funded dental care; extending Jobkeeper Payment; increasing federal government support for childcare; increasing funding for public schools; and a Royal Commission into banking.
Among other consistent positions noted in Australian public service website Theyvoteforyou.org.au, she is also very much in favor of reducing the corporate tax rate. Nothing if not consistent. Perhaps, however, the last word in the affair should go to Margaret River matriarch, Vanya Cullen:
“It was very informal,” she said. “[Albanese] said he had always been a fan of our wines and really enjoyed the tasting. Everyone loved it. He was very relaxed. He was on holidays. We were thrilled and honored to have him here […] He had a cross-section of our biodynamic wines. Being a family company and small business, it’s just lovely to have them here.”
Champagne sales dip in France
Although we are yet to see the traditional season for major sales of France’s flagship sparkling wine, Champagne sales in the country have plummeted by 20 percent (to date), reportedly due to the growing price tag associated with the bubbles.
According to a NielsenIQ report, Champagne volume sales between January 1 and December 3 fell by 20.7 percent. Although the figures are likely year-on-year, this was not made clear in reporting by French radio station BFM.
Nonetheless, the fall is consistent across the last decade – albeit ignoring the post-pandemic boom of 2021 – as, from 2011 to 2022, the number of bottles of Champagne sold annually in major retailers (supermarkets and malls) has fallen from 47 to 37 million. News websites such as the millenial-focussed Demotivateur put the drop down to the ever-increasing cost of the sparkling wine.
Average supermarket prices of Champagne in France now sit at €30 (nearly $33) a bottle while other bottles of bubbles claim an average price tag of €6 ($6.5). However, the wider picture still remains to be seen.
“Sales of Champagne in supermarkets represent only 27 percent of total sales in France,” admitted BFM. “But they give an indication of the trend for the entire market.”
AI tech boosts Rioja viticulture company
A Rioja-based viticulture company that uses Artificial Intelligence to map and diagnose vineyard diseases has been shortlisted for Spain’s Wine Technology awards.
Altavitis Technologies uses deep learning (a form of machine learning from large datasets and inputs) and artificial vision mapping to produce non-invasive diagnostics for the likes of vine trunk disease. Effectively, the technology uses image data taken in the vineyard to assess the health of the canopy from vine to vine.
“This new algorithm, developed by Altavitis, makes it possible to reliably automate the estimation of the severity and incidence of wood diseases in the vineyard,” said local Rioja media outlet Nuevecuatrouno. “In this way, a vine by vine diagnosis is made which determines if the plants are healthy plants, if they have foliar symptoms, if they are dying or if they are dead.”
According to Nuevecuatrouno, Altavitis began its artificial intelligence project in 2022 at high-profile Rioja estate, Bodegas Muga.
The Wine Technology Platform (PTV) was established in Spain in 2010 with the aim of promoting and establishing a national Research and Development strategy for the country’s wine industry. The awards cover all manner of technology uses across all facets of the wine industry.
Menorca’s production grows
Menorca’s wine production leapt by nearly 50 percent this year with the Spanish Mediterranean island boasting its largest wine production figures for 35 years.
According to COPE – Spain’s former Radio Popular radio station – Vino de la Tierra Isla de Menorca (an IGP in European Union parlance) production, which represents almost 90 percent of the island’s wine production, was up 46 percent on 2023. However, the radio station did not indicate whether or not this growth was primarily due to a poor season in 2022 – only year-on-year figures were published by the media outlet.
While it does appear that Vino de la Tierra production on the easternmost Balearic island was down significantly in 2022 (210 tons of grapes harvested in 2022 versus 325 tons this year), overall wine production grew by 15 percent, from 1950 hectoliters (195,000 liters) in 2022 to 2242 hectoliters (224,200 liters) in 2023 – the highest production figures for 35 years.
Half of this was white wine with red and rosé production sitting at 28 and 22 percent, respectively.
Vineyard plantings have also grown on Menorca with 147 hectares of vineyard in 2022 growing to 152.5 hectares in 2023.
Loire trio launch winegrower card game
Three Loire-based friends are crowdfunding a card-based family game in which players take on the role of a winegrower in a bid to harvest 1000 hectoliters’ (100,000 liters) worth of grapes. Dubbed La Course aux Vendanges (“The Harvest Race”) players must negotiate a number of viticultural hurdles across the duration of the game.
The main deck is broken down into problem, solution and immunity cards – playable by the participants while they race to be the first to finish their harvest.
“The game is designed to be both amusing and informative, incorporating wine culture questions in order to learn while having fun,” said local newspaper Ouest-France.
Some cards are straight quiz questions, such as “what is the most planted grape in France?”, which enable players to unlock 50 hectoliters. Others have issues that might hamper the game’s resonance on an international level.
“Strike. Harvesters are not happy. You find yourself doing the workd alone,” says one card, limiting that yield to 50 hectolitres. However, the “social peace” card enables the player to negociate the end of the strike and for harvest to continue.
“We believe that The Harvest Race can be a springboard to a greater appreciation of wine and a fun exploration of this fascinating world,” Laurie Gaborieau, one of the game’s creators, told Ouest-France.
The Harvest Race game can be found on French crowdfunding website Ulule.
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