Eight St Emilion wines investigated by US authorities
August 15, 2008
By Sophie Kevany
The US government has narrowed an ongoing fraud investigation down to eight wines from France's St Emilion region.
Wines from Chateaux Pavie Macquin, Troplong Mondot, Belfont Belcier, Destieux, Fleur Cardinale, Grand Corbin, Grand Corbin Despagne and Monbousquet, are understood to be the focus of the investigation by the American Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB).
The wines were technically demoted in status by a government ruling last month that restored all St Emilion wines to the 1996 classification, following a legal dispute over the 2006 classification.
The eight chateaux were promoted to Premier Grand Cru Classe or Grand Cru Classe in 2006, but were demoted this year as the result of a legal challenge by several other chateaux, disgruntled being declassified two years ago.
'We are taking some time to review the situation of the 2006 and 2007 labels on guidance from the French government to do with the use of the terms Premier Cru Classe and Grand Cru Classe,' Gail Davis, of the TTB, told decanter.com.
The TTB is unsure whether it actually holds any of the eight wines in question. The bureau said it had been able to release a number of other French wines it was investigating as part of the classification dispute after receiving a list of the chateaux concerned from the French government last week.
'This is not a health and safety issue, this is a potential fraud issue,' said Davis.
The situation, which adds to the ongoing debacle surrounding the 2006 reclassification, has left the eight chateaux in a difficult position.
'We have done nothing wrong, the situation is unjust,' said François Despagne, vice president of the St Emilion Wine Union, and owner of one of the formerly promoted chateaux.
Despagne traveled to Paris yesterday as part of a delegation from St Emilion that met with the French president's viticultural advisor. He said the delegation was in the capital 'to explain both the injustice, and the damage that is being done to the region, to Bordeaux and to France'.
The St Emilion classification is revised every ten years.
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I find it remarkable that nobody seemed to have considered the fact that none of this story can be true. The labels for the eight wines mentioned cannot possibly be under investigation by the TTB, for the very simple reason that the wines cannot have been imported into the United States at the present moment. In fact, most of the wines in question have barely bottled their 2006 vintage, let alone the 2007 vintage, and certainly no American Importer has even as much as filed a label approval application with the TTB, who can only act under their jurisdiction once the wines are landed in the US. An Importer would only file once they have taken physical possession of the wine and are ready to bring it in. This story is therefore completely flawed and TTB would never admit to investigating anything in the first place, certainly not on this premise.
Gil Lempert-Schwarz, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
I really do think that your headline and opening sentence of this article, as well as the text of your e-mail notification of this story, all of which imply some possible wrongdoing by those responsible for the eight Châteaux concerned, could have been more carefully worded. I recognise that the first impression is corrected somewhat later on but the piece does still not make clear exactly why, as M. Despagne says,the situation is unjust. Those who have not followed this saga need to realise that these eight Châteaux were not, as your article puts it, ”demoted” directly but rather that their promotion was prevented by a sidewind in litigation where the merits of the wines in question had never been considered. As I have said elsewhere at least six of these wines could have been, and were, identified by keen amateurs as likely to be promoted in 2006.
I have to say that one would have thought that there would be enough real fraud in the USA to occupy the auhorities, as there is everywhere else, without them wasting their time on investigating those who are not only entirely innocent but have actually been, and still are, the greatest victims of the classification affair. Moreover, at a practical level, I would be surprised if any of the 2006 had yet got
to the USA and if it has, it must have been labelled at a time when it was entitled in law to be described as PGCC or GCC - that is prior to early July when the most recent Court decision on the 2006 classification was given. Perhaps most importantly, any buyer will be getting exactly the wine they ordered: it will keep as well, mature in exactly the same way and be just as enjoyable to drink — the only thing that could have changed may be that the label is more impressive than the law today permits. By tomorrow, however, even that may have changed back again when the French Government, in whose hands lies the remedy, realises what it has thus far failed to appreciate. (Perhaps, like badly printed postage stamps, any bottles already labelled may become collectors' items? In which case even investors in wine, for whom my heart rarely bleeds, will be happy.)
Tim Hartley
From your article it is unclear what the fraud allegation is about. Is it that they had put the Grand Cru Classé status on their labels as a result of the classification of 2006 which was recently undone? If that is the case one cannot speak of fraud, because the chateaux in question cannot be blamed for that. Fraud must have an element of wilfull intent which seems to be missing.
Hein Hooghoudt
I am happy to be a Decanter subscriber. You give us timely information. The USA cannot protect the US consumer from salmonella from tomatoes to janopeno peppers. The FDA wants to police St. Emillion? Clearly, the US authorities do not GIVE A DAMM about practical issues.
St. Amant
The situation is getting unstable around the winelands of Europe. I think it's high time the US send troops to those rebellious and potentially fraudulent regions like Montalcino, Montepulciano and now St-Emilion. Democracy is under threat!!!
Bisso Atanassov
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I find it remarkable that nobody seemed to have considered the fact that none of this story can be true. The labels for the eight wines mentioned cannot possibly be under investigation by the TTB, for the very simple reason that the wines cannot have been imported into the United States at the present moment. In fact, most of the wines in question have barely bottled their 2006 vintage, let alone the 2007 vintage, and certainly no American Importer has even as much as filed a label approval application with the TTB, who can only act under their jurisdiction once the wines are landed in the US. An Importer would only file once they have taken physical possession of the wine and are ready to bring it in. This story is therefore completely flawed and TTB would never admit to investigating anything in the first place, certainly not on this premise.
