I had an argument with my brother last week over an issue I'm pretty sure I read about years ago. I contended that there was a major scandal in France a number of years ago over the fact that many of the premier chateaux had been blending North African wines with their own wines to fortify them. This was in violation of the fact that all of the classified vineyards are supposed to produce wines from only their own vineyard. Did I dream this, or was this in fact a scandal that revealed this was common practice in Bordeaux for decades? Thanks...
Answer From Expert Roger Bohmrich MW
The practice of blending wines from distant sources into a local product has ancient origins. Whether this qualifies as fraud - or a scandal - really depends on many factors including the period in history, the region, and one's point of view. In fact, the same observation applies to many winemaking techniques such as chaptalization (sweetening the juice to boost alcohol), acidification or adding water. It was common and accepted practice in the 19th century to blend more powerful Northern Rhône wine into the comparatively lighter reds of Bordeaux to give them more color and strength. Bordeaux reds were in fact rather pale and delicate for a very long time compared to the modern versions. The resulting blend was described as "hermitagé" in keeping with the origin of the Syrah-based addition. In the day, the more flavorful result was no doubt judged to be superior! There is evidence that, for the same reason, more potent, darkly colored wines from southern France and Algeria were also used in Bordeaux and Burgundy. In some cases, the aim was simply to sell something ordinary under a famous name. Banning such practices and assuring true authenticity of origin were the main motivations behind the laws known as Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée introduced in the 1930s. Nonetheless, there are revelations periodically of a producer who sells wine of a lesser rank as a prestigious grand cru, or uses grapes which are not permitted by the appellation laws. I can think of singular examples from the mid-1990's involving a famous Margaux, one from the mid-2000s concerning a major shipper in Beaujolais, and a recent case of a well-known Burgundy house. These are indeed exceptions, however. There will always be unscrupulous individuals. The issue of counterfeit wine is very much in the news these days, and it is certainly a real concern - especially for French brands - in China. It's important to keep in mind that such fraud affects a tiny fraction of the world's wine. Here's a final thought...if adding a few percent of a prohibited grape variety to a blend, in violation of the rules, actually improves the wine, is it a bad thing? There's no doubt you can argue the answer from different points of view. You might want to read about the 2008 "scandal" in Brunello to get a sense of this issue.
