Chaptalisation, the process of adding sugar to grape juice with lower sugar levels is legal in the region so long as the addition does not increase the alcohol level by more than 2%. The prosecution proved that the winemakers had increased the volume of alcohol by more than this legal limit, going as high as 2.7%.
The producers were fined up to €20,000 by the court in the city of Villefranche-sur-Saône. The state prosecutor had originally requested the penalties to be between €700 and €1,500 for the 53 producers involved in over-chaptalisation.
However, the French supermarket Inter marché which has supplied 600 tonnes of sugar got away with much lower than the requested penalties. Against the requested fines ranging from €50,000-100,000 the court instructed them to pay only €4,000-20,000 each.
Two middlemen accused of selling sugar to producers without receipts were convicted and fined $32,000 and $46,000 respectively and sentenced to six months probation and one year of prison respectively.
The vignerons penalised produced Beaujolais and Beaujolais Villages wines for sale to wine cooperatives and négociant houses.
The ruling was condemned by the local wine trade body. Said Dominique Capart, president of Inter-Beaujolais, ‘they didn't take into account the winemaker's good intentions and the difficulties of the 2004 vintage. A large number of them had gone only slightly over the limits.'
The agricultural union said they were 'victims of poor legislation. According to them, chaptalisation can be used to add 2.5-3% alcohol in Champagne and the Loire Valley in difficult years like 2004.
At the heart of the case is the French system regulating chaptalisation and it raises a question as to whether those prosecuted among the 3,500 producers had committed fraud or acted in good faith.
The 2004 vintage was undoubtedly extremely difficult in Beaujolais, because of the cold and rainy growing season yielding fruit which was not fully mature and had sugar content capable of an average of 10 to 11 percent alcohol only, much less than the 12 percent required for wine sold under the Beaujolais appellation.
Reportedly, the winemakers had asked the appellation authorities to allow them an increase of potential alcohol by 2.5%. Many producers had expected the chaptalisation increase to be approved, but the request was denied.
In India, adding of sugar, acid, water or whatever the producer decides chalta hai as there are no strict and specific laws yet. The producers do not want any laws, claiming the industry is in the stage of infancy. The newly formed Grape Board must have on its agenda, formulation of the laws which are not only on the recommendation of the industry but other experts, in order to ensure that the delinquent producers can be brought to book and the hapless consumer is not handed a sub standard product. The Board will find an ally in the existing quality conscious producers. |