French businessman François Pinault just bought 0,417 hectares of Montrachet for 1 million € via @BourgogneLive

— Caroline PARENT GROS (@cparentgros) June 15, 2012

So, following on from yesterday’s news stories, now we know how Etienne de Montille can afford to buy the Château du Puligny-Montrachet 😉 But as far as I know the Château de Puligny-Montrachet actually held 0.0428ha – that only produces a little over 200 bottles per year! – so perhaps Caroline’s decimal point slipped:
http://chateaudepuligny.com/fiche_technique.php?id=15&type=1

So that would make the whole vineyard worth €186.7 million….!

[EDIT] There you go:

Uh oh, expensive typo. It is 1million € for 0,0417 hectares of Montrachet that François Pinault bought from Chateau de Puligny.

— Caroline PARENT GROS (@cparentgros) June 15, 2012

Whilst it doesn’t say that much in itself, I find it highly encouraging that they are so open about this:

Investigation at Labouré Roi:
Burgundy wine industry joins proceedings as civil party
Beaune, le 15 juin 2012

Following the announcement on Wednesday, 13th June of an investigation being carried out jointly by the fraud office and the police into a suspected case of fraudulent activity within the firm Labouré Roi, the Burgundy wine industry has decided to join proceedings as a civil party in order to be fully informed of the details of the case.

The Burgundy Wine Board (BIVB), whose primary role is to promote and enhance the image of its wines, recognises the seriousness of the accusations made being brought against this company.

It is on behalf of all the men and women who devote themselves to improving the quality of their wines every day and to making every bottle special that the BIVB intends to react in a determined fashion. It is therefore joining proceedings as a civil party in order to assess the allegations levelled against this firm and, consequently, the harm suffered by the industry.

Burgundy wines are renowned across the world for their prestigious appellations and their intangible and profound connection with the terroir. “More than half of Burgundy wines are exported to some 150 countries. This is why any suspicion of dishonest practice that might tarnish the reputation of these wines cannot be tolerated”, explains Michel Baldassini, Deputy Chairman of the BIVB.

Once the case has been analysed, the industry will of course take all necessary measures to prevent this type of situation from ever happening again.

“This affair must not be allowed to affect the vast majority of Burgundy producers and wine merchants who scrupulously comply with Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée principles”, concludes Pierre-Henry Gagey, Chairman of the BIVB.

Key figures about Burgundy wines:

3% of the French vineyard (28,000 ha)
100 Appellations d’Origine Contrôlées (or 22 % of French AOCs)
200 million bottles sold, 50% of which are sold in France
3 800 wine-growing estates
250 wine merchants
23 cooperative cellars

1. So plenty of hot air is being generated by the fraud story broken by Le Bien Public yesterday, but frankly there seems only hot air; the few known ‘facts’ seem to be an idea of the quantity of fraudulent bottles (one assumes lower appellation wine being given a higher appellation label rather than cutting with vin d’Algerie as was once popular) and that four directors of Labouré-Roi have been arrested. I guess more ‘facts’ might prejudice any trial, but let’s see if anything useful leaches out…
2. Château du Puligny-Montrachet has been bought by the de Montille family of Volnay. The only surprise here is that the official announcement of this has taken so long – there was plenty of ‘chatter’ already at the end of last year.
   

   « Ces deux exploitations avaient déjà développées des synergies », explique Etienne de Montille. Environ 5 hectares seront revendus. Au final ces deux domaines couvriront 35 hectares, dont 20 en Premiers et Grands Crus. Des vignes cultivées et certifiées en agriculture biologique.
   Source: The BIVB

3. The pretty domaine Le Clos du Moulin aux Moines (Auxey-Duresses) has also bought up some new vine in Pernand, a 1.42 hectare plot of chardonnay in the village lieu-dits of Les Champs and Combottes.
4. Last month the cooperative cellars of the Côte Chalonnaise, Mâconnais and Beaujolais unveiled their Coteaux Bourguignons label, ‘a new appellation which links Burgundy and Beaujolais’. The Fédération des Caves Coopératives Bourgogne-Jura (FCCBJ) brings together the cooperative cellars of Côte d’Or, Saône-et-Loire, Yonne and the even fruit industry of the Jura – so maybe some strawberry wine then?. Although the label will initially only be seen on red wines, the AOC Coteaux Bourguignons label could also be used for white and rosé wines in the future.

Enough news for now 😉

It’s not just about faking expensive old bottles like Rudy K, fraud can touch all buyers:

Bad news from the Côte d’Or – fraud at Laboure-Roi concerning up to 2 million bottles it seems! More information will doubtless follow…

It’s a late (only 4 days!) addition to the Spring 2012 Burgundy Report – but it doesn’t make sense to leave it in the drawer until (the Summer Report in) July/August to share with you: So here are the notes to a simply exquisite set of mature and maturing wines from Nicolas Potel. Read em and weep as they say 😉

If the launch of these old wines is a thing to cheer the heart, some of the developments surrounding Nicolas’ old label – in the UK at least – are of less cheer. One retailer is now selling 2006 Maison Nicolas Potel wine, which would be fine, except for the fact the Nicolas says he didn’t make the wine that they are selling. To be clear, Nicolas made all the wines up to and including the 2007 vintage before being asked to leave the company wearing his name. It was then, completely clear to consumers, that anything 2008 onwards should be more carefully scrutinised before buying. The arrival of these ‘older’ wines seems to me depressing news, and that’s because it will now cast a shadow over the whole NP back catalogue – the line in the sand for choosing your bottles/vintages will be washed away by any tide of ‘new’ releases.

Of-course it’s all perfectly legal; the current owners run a négoce company and can, just like Nicolas is doing with his collection Bellenum (linked above), buy and sell older wines. What is ‘unfortunate’ is that they cloud the waters in such a way that you would assume the wines were made by Potel – i.e without differentiation – which, according to him, they were not. The Collection Bellenum, whilst wearing a Maison Roche de Bellene label, also has the Bellenum stamp on that label and a back label that explains that these are old wines backed by Potel, but not made by Potel – I think there is a great difference in approach, don’t you?

Ah, finally some real work for the team at M&M – hope they have trained their backs for all that bending! 🙂