Photo credit Talkingsun
If you’ve been guilty of drinking Pinot Noir from the E & J Gallo owned Red Bicyclette label over the last few years, chances are high you were drinking a fair amount of Merlot and Syrah. This isn’t a big deal. If you’ve been drinking cheap Californian Pinot over the last few years, you’ve also been drinking a good chunk of Merlot and Syrah (up to 25% max by law). In this case however, the co-ops and wineries who sold the bulk wine to E & J Gallo, were secretly cutting it with wine from the cheaper and often easier to grow Merlot and Syrah grapes and cashing in off Pinot Noir’s hype. That will get you in big trouble in France… check out the Decanter article.
It’s hard to imagine a world without wine scandals.
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2 Responses:
February 5th, 2010 at 7:07 am
In January 2010, when Steve Heimoff asked Gina Gallo what was the
“Weakest performing brands of 2009?”
She answered:
“Some of the hardest sells were the international — Red Bicyclette, Europe, because of the exchange [rate]. ”
As the Decanter commenters ask, how could E&J Gallo think they could buy that much French juice at that price? Maybe they knew all along? There has always been a lot of “Don’t ask; Don’t tell” in the jug wine industry.
February 5th, 2010 at 10:23 am
Mmm gotta love E&J Gallo. I definitely remember having this many years ago. The sad part is people get introduced to “pinot noir” through this stuff and never experience what the grape actually tastes like.