faux pinot noir

There has been a wine substitution scandal of massive proportions. Apparently between 2005 and 2008, the Aude department of Languedoc (in the south of France), exported 160 million bottles of pinot noir per year when it only produced 67 million bottles per year. Most of the exports were to the United States. AFP has reported that merlot and syrah were substituted for pinot noir.

La répression des fraudes avait découvert la tromperie en mars 2008 lors d'un contrôle à la société Ducasse à Carcassonne. La fraude consistait à vendre au négociant américain Gallo du merlot et du syrah pour du pinot, presque deux fois plus cher. Des viticulteurs et des négociants du Languedoc Roussillon ont donc été épinglés, mais l'image de marque des vins de la région devrait en pâtir.

What is actually shocking is that American consumers mistook the taste of syrah and merlot for pinot noir. Only real wine connoisseurs actually drink pinot noir, so we do not need to feel sympathetic to those who purchased the mislabelled wine and did not even notice the difference.

The real stuff would have been wasted on them anyway.