- www.redbicyclette.com
- The purported pinot noir.
French customs officials determined that 18 million bottles of wine sent to the Gallo wine factory were not Pinot Noir, as they were labeled, but a blend of inferior varietals. No one noticed.
From the Red Bicyclette website (which is curiously devoid of the Gallo name):
Our wines are cultivated in the Languedoc-Roussillon region with Old World passion and simplicity. Made from carefully selected grapes prized for their character and balance, the flavor reflects France’s famous winemaking expertise, but with a relaxed style.
Relaxed winemaking style, indeed. Wine Spectator tells all about the careful selection of the Pinot Noir grapes, which included an order to start making a Pinot Noir, then a scramble to find the increasingly popular grapes by a big grape co-op in France, who then farmed the work out to another grape-middleman business, which then miraculously located more Pinot Noir than the entire region produces.
How’s the quality control there, Ernest and Julio? Then again, maybe people choosing wine because it has a cutesy, Frenchy name and a bike on the label get what they deserve.
Also, I would like a job as a French customs officer.
Who’s going to be the first troll to make a poor comment on this wine story?
99% of the wine buying public buys wine based on the cute label. gallo was smart to spend their money on the outside of the bottle, rather than the inside.
@1. You are!!!
It doesn’t matter what’s in Red Bicyclette. It’s industrial wine, and is flavored primarily with oak extract. The only reason they’re pretending it’s “pinot noir”, and pretending that “pinot noir” means something interesting in industrial wine, is that pinot noir is trendy; and the only reason they’re pretending it has something to do with “Old World passion and simplicity” is marketing. It has nothing whatever to do with pinot noir the grape or France the wine-making country — and wouldn’t, even if it really WAS pinot noir. You might as well ask what vintage your car’s motor oil is.
“Then again, maybe people choosing wine because it has a cutesy, Frenchy name and a bike on the label get what they deserve.”
Fraud is still fraud, Bethany. I hope you don’t go cross-eyed from looking down your nose like that.
Does Publicola have a take on this yet?
So Red Bicyclette was trying to be Two-Buck Chuck for snobs, or arrivistes. Fine, just be upfront about it.
Nothing whatever wrong with blending. It’s a great way to make oceans of drinkable wine out of battery acid and raspberry syrup. I’m all for it; couldn’t afford the antioxidants otherwise.
Interesting story until the dig at folks who buy wine based on the label – the last bottle I bought was purely because it had dinosaurs on it.
Bethany, I’ll bet if you got that job as a French customs officer you could also wear a very stylish, jaunty little hat.
@7, the most expensive wines in the world are blended. All of the good wines from Languedoc-Roussillon AOCs are blends. In fact, ironically, pinot noir grapes cannot legally be used in any L-R AOC; pinot noir from the region is exclusively industrial shit. Southern France is a terrible place to grow pinot noir; all the good wine is made from stuff like syrah, carignan, grenache, mourvedre, and a dozen others. But this shit has got that classy “pinot noir” name. But in southern France, pinot noir is ALWAYS shit, pretty much by definition.
Buy AOCs, not varietals. Terroir, not grapes.
Joe M FTW for obliging #1
Also Red Bike is kool aid
I believe the rule of thumb is the quality of the wine is inversely porportional to the ferociousness of the animal on the label.
I’m not sure how leaves an bike factor in, though.
BJC, you do realize that making snotty comments about the way people choose wine makes you sound insufferably pretentious, right?
Whatever you do, don’t buy ‘Bitch’ wine. It is the foul. If a wine tastes good, it is good wine.
I can never read a thread about wine labels without remembering that the liquor store where I grew up (did I mention I’m from the South?) carried Elvis wine, apparently taking the gambit that if cheap wine sold well, people might pay a little more if the King was on the label.
Mostly I remember the label saying: “The wine the King would have drunk, if he had drunk wine.”
I sometimes choose wine because it has a cute name and a bicycle on the label. And it less than ten bucks. And what I get is a little buzz, which is exactly what I deserve.