Real Pinot Noir in Sancerre late August 2011

For those of you waiting impatiently for the appeal court judgment, which was due today, on those convicted in the fake Pinot Noir scandal the announcement of the judgment has been delayed due to a lack of staff. The judgment will now be announced on 12th October.

See details here.

There are a number of posts on Jim's Loire about the Fake Pinot case – here, here and here.


Shortage of staff

This seems to be a frequent complaint in France at the moment. La Nouvelle République recently ran a story on the difficulty of recruiting locals to pick grapes. As a result producers are increasingly hiring workers from Eastern Europe and in this particular instance from Bulgaria.

It is the same in the restaurant trade, perhaps particularly in rural areas. Marc Hammani (chef/proprietor at Auberge de Montpoupon) and Xavier Fortin (sommelier at La Promenade, Le Petit Pressigny) have both complained about the difficulty of recruiting waiting and kitchen staff holding back their businesses.

The vignerons of Reuilly with eponymous town in background (photo: Denis Bomer)

On 24th August 1961 the Reuilly appellation was extended to cover rosé and red wines. Whites had been granted the AC in 1937.  The producers will be celebrating on 24th June – a couple of months early as they may be taking their summer holidays in July ready to be pick in August!

Some details of the Appellation Reuilly here.

Sorting real Pinot Noir in Sancerre

'Montpellier: Les faux pinots ou le prix d’une "connerie"

Compte rendu d’audience Patrick Nappez (Midi Libre)

08/06/2011, 06 h 00

Vous donnez une image déplorable de la filière viticole alors que cette région a un étendard à porter haut et fort. C’est pas sérieux tout ça ! Quand on fait une connerie, on le reconnaît. Mais cela me rappelle les affaires de corruption et de conflit d’intérêt : je te couvre, tu me couvres..." Longtemps silencieux, au premier jour du procès en appel de l’affaire des “faux pinots”, l’avocat général Pierre Denier est entré dans les débats comme un trouble-fête dans une soirée de potaches.'

Lire la suite ici.

During the first day of their appeal against their sentences handed down in 2010 over the Pinot Noir fraud, the defendants appear to be advancing similar arguments as before. Namely that Pinot (Noir) is a brand not a grape variety – might surprise a few Burgundians! That Gallo knew what was going on and that the wine was of good quality anyway and that they were supplying what the market wanted.

This appeal is all too likely to further damage the reputation of the wines of the south of France in the United States. Before the appeal started Jacques Gravegeal, long-time president of the Syndicat of Producers of Vin de Pays d'Oc, said that the fake Pinot scandal had caused a drop in sales in the US of between 50,000 and 70,000 hectolitres.