Steve Calderwood's - "From the Grapevine"
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Pinot Envy: At $10 a Bottle, Buyer Beware ...

By Steve Calderwood

Some of the more interesting things about the wine industry are the scandals that crop up every now and then. Australians were caught using oak chips to flavor their chardonnays. One Italian producer added methanol to wine (people died from that one.) South Africans used illegal flavorings in sauvignon blanc. Or the many instances of counterfeit labels being put on cheap bottles of wine and sold as much more expensive brands.

Oh, the horror of it all.

We recently had a scandal that hit home, right here in America, involving one of our largest producers.

Let's start with a little background. Pinot noir is usually the last grape that a novice wine drinker will get into. This is because the flavor profile is delicate and earthy, often with notes of mushrooms, leather or tobacco. It takes a little while to appreciate something like that.

The other day I was at the Grand Vin having a lovely Spanish garnacha when I overheard three novice wine drinkers, consuming the same wine as I was. One described it as tasting "chemically." Now, first of all, let me say that I commend them for being adventurous and trying new wines and discussing the flavors they each tasted. This is a perfect way to learn. But I had to step in and say I'd describe the taste as "minerally." There are certain flavors that are easier to enjoy when you first start with wine and good pinot ain't it.

First of all, pinot noir is one of -- if not the -- most expensive of the grape varietals because of its low yields and difficulty in growing. Then a little phenomenon called "Sideways" came into being, a movie that propelled pinot noir into the everyday vernacular. As a result, pinot became even more expensive.

In the U.S., to label a wine as a single varietal, i.e. cabernet sauvignon, it only has to contain 75 percent of that grape. The other 25 percent can be anything else. As a result, quite a few pinot noir bottlers have blended syrah into their wines, for two main reasons. It adds more body and fruit to a pinot noir, which is more acceptable to the novice palate, and syrah is cheaper than pinot so the winemaker can lower the price and sell more.

Which brings us to our scandal. A few years ago, Gallo bought a French wine company called Red Bicyclette that made inexpensive wines in the Languedoc region. They started importing them to the U.S., selling them in the $7 to $11 range. But, as always, they wanted to make a little more money from this line of wines and decided to add a pinot noir to the line.

As the Wine Spectator reported, Gallo had been working with a co-op, Sieur d'Arques, on various wines for Red Bicyclette and asked them for a pinot. The co-op did not have enough of the grape variety, so it contacted Ducasse, a merchant house in Carcassonne, to help buy from other growers and producers.

In 2008, during an audit by the French fraud agency, officials found several inconsistencies. Ducasse had sold 53,889 hectoliters of pinot noir when the entire region only produces around 53,000 hectoliters a year. In addition, the wine had been sold for 58 euros per hectoliter, much less than the typical bulk-wine market price of 97 euros per hectoliter for Vin de Pays d'Oc Pinot Noir.

You guessed it, they were selling Gallo syrah and merlot as pinot - and selling the equivalent of 20 million bottles of it. The funny thing is that Gallo didn't notice anything, the drinkers of Red Bicyclette didn't notice and it's estimated that the French made 7 million euros on the deal.

Justice finally caught up with the fraud and this month, 12 executives of these firms were found guilty, guilty, guilty. They were given suspended sentences and fined a total of 2 million euros. Seven million in profit and two million in fines. I guess you can say that crime does pay.

Now let's check out our upcoming events.

On Monday, March 1, is the Art, Wine & Water event at Upstairs at Louie's. This will be fun as the featured artist is Louie's own Jerzy Paterek and wines from Premier, Noble and Henri Perez are featured. It starts at 6 p.m.; the cost is $15.

Then there's Little Palm Island's wine dinner on Thursday, March 4, featuring the wines of Rodney Strong. This is a great chance to taste some of Rodney's best, including the reserve pinot noir (which really is pinot) and the Rockaway Vineyard cabernet, only allocated to Strong's own wine club with the exception of a very few fine dining establishments. The cost is $135 and the van will leave the Ocean Key Resort at 5:30 p.m. Call 872-2551 to book your seats.

Next up is the Hot Tin Roof's food-and-wine pairing on St. Patty's Day, March 17, so the theme will be "Wines We Feel Lucky to Have." It starts at 5:30 p.m. sharp; the cost is $32 including tax and tip. Reservations are required (the last one sold out). Call 296-7701 to make them.

On April 18, the 12th annual Vintner's Dinner will be held at the Casa Marina Resort, the kick-off event for the 15th annual Taste of Key West. The dinner features representatives from 18 wineries and some of Key West's best chefs. It's a fundraiser for AIDS Help and sells out every year. The cost is $150 and you can reserve your seats by calling AIDS Help at 296-6169.

That's it for this week, so until the next time -- wine a bit, you'll feel better.