In 1972, the world was buzzing over an event called Watergate. On June 17 of that year, five officials from then-serving U.S. President Richard Nixon’s reelection campaign broke into the Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate Building in Washington, D.C The arrest revealed the White House’s involvement in the presidential election. It was a time when trust in society as a whole disappeared as many people could not trust politics itself.
And the air of distrust spreads across the Atlantic Ocean the following year, 1973, to the vineyards in Bordeaux, France. It was a time when the Watergate case was known to the world through special hearings. In France, wine was staged instead of power. The media called the incident, which began in Bordeaux, a watergate-like gate (a case in which a concealment or systematic manipulation was revealed).
After Napoleon’s time, the story that Bordeaux wine, a symbol of dignity and tradition for a long time, was actually stained with falsehood spread like hot cakes, and people who drank Bordeaux wine for the past hundreds of years began to doubt for the first time. “Is this wine really from Bordeaux?”
사진 확대 1973 The cover of the French weekly Paris Match during winegate. The phrase ‘scandal in Bordeaux’ stands out in the headline.
Traditional wine, turned out to be bulk wine?
In June 1973, customs investigators raided the Quai des Chartrons, the heart of Bordeaux’s wine trade, and Cruse et Fils Frères, one of the leading wine traders. The raid on the “heart” of the wine trade itself was a shock, but what investigators discovered in the raid was more than a shock to Bordeaux wine revelers.
The underground storage of Cruze Corporation was full of wines from the Languedoc and Roussillon provinces, which were producing and selling low-cost bulk wines at the time. Next to it were empty bottles with Bordeaux labels. There were even traces of chemical treatment to match the color of the wine. It’s a trace of a reputable Bordeaux wine trader making and selling fake Bordeaux wines.
It is said to have reached 3 million bottles. Considering that Bordeaux wine distribution was 60 million bottles per year at the time, 5% of the total distribution was made into fake Bordeaux wine. Investigators’ investigation and the announcement of results on the day sent the Bordeaux wine market fluctuating.
Lionel Cruz, who was one of the management of Kruse’s bosses, protested, calling it a “gestapo-style investigation,” but the on-site evidence was already sufficient. It was discovered that the bottles believed to be high-end Bordeaux wines were actually a low-cost blend, and the entire wine market, as well as French society, was shocked.
사진 확대 Lionel Kruse, nicknamed ‘Nixon of Bordeaux’ for the Weingate case.
As doubts about Bordeaux continue to spread, investigators have uncovered illegal practices to improve stock wines, including excessive sweetener additions, various undisclosed blends and the use of artificial pigments. The Weingate court case began in October 1974 and was extensively covered abroad, including in the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States, and Japan. The trial lasted nearly two months, ending with 240 pages of rulings and eight convictions.
The case is now closed, but the aftermath was just beginning. Overall wine prices in the Bordeaux region have plunged and exports have slowed. Demand for Bordeaux wine in the United States fell to 1969 levels, and it was not until 1982 that it recovered to its previous level. Many chateau producers who were not directly involved in the scandal but suffered the fallout have stopped doing business with Negosien (wine trader), with most returning to direct sales.
This case is particularly meaningful in that it has shaken the trust of the French wine industry as a whole, beyond just quality issues. Bordeaux wine was the pride of France, the face of global exports. The fact that the bottles were falsely filled meant the collapse of French dignity.
Restaurants in Paris quickly changed their wine lists, and London importers, who were big sellers of French wine at the time, put their orders on hold. Some buyers even made a statement that “French wine is unreliable.” It took just one day for the trust built up over hundreds of years to collapse.
사진 확대 A two-page article by Le Nouvel Observatory on August 27, 1973, detailing the events of the time
A crumbling name and a re-established rule
Bordeaux was the center of wine in the world at that time. Prices have gone up every year, and demand has not decreased. However, there was a clear limit to the production of vineyards. Something unimaginable happened to mix wine from other regions because of the lack of supply. The name ‘Bordeaux Mountain’ was consumed only in the language of marketing. In other words, the overheated market created by the structure centered on Negosang destroyed itself.
French society was in turmoil as the trial against the Cruze boss began. The Kruse brothers were convicted, and all of the counterfeit wine was recovered. In the wake of this incident, the French government made a major overhaul of the AOC regulations that have continued to this day.
The label had to clearly state the country of origin and the place of bottling, and the phrase “mis en bouteille auchâteau” began to be used in earnest from then on. Previously, the practice of buying and bottling wine in large quantities was common by Negosian, but after the incident, many chateau chose to bottle it themselves. They had to put their names on the line and prove their quality. And this phrase is still easily found on Bordeaux wine labels.
Eventually, this causes the Bordeaux wine industry to change its style itself. Producers who remained simple farmers turned themselves into the subjects of the wine brand. The power in the market moved from merchants to vineyards, from capital to conscience. And that change continues to this day.
사진 확대 The label of Chateau Margot 1996 vintage. The phrase “mis en bouteille a château” is seen above.
an unfinished story
Time covered the wound, but it couldn’t even erase the trace. Weingate was not just a forgery, it remained a symbol of how the entire industry faltered when trust collapsed.
Since then, the French wine industry has changed to a structure that considers transparency and records to be life-like. The chateau bottle marking, production history disclosure, and country of origin verification systems all stem from lessons from those days.
The bottle of Bordeaux wine we drink now is the result of the rules and surveillance that were set up then. The winegate of 1973 is not a finished story, it remains a lesson that today’s wine industry must reflect on every day.
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Wine is the wine produced by time. Along with the history of mankind, the history of wine began. It has a lot of interesting stories. A reporter with an international official level of the WSET (Wine & Spirit Education Trust) will tell you a fun and delicious wine story.
Dining and Cooking