Adding water to the must

Wine fraud relates to the commercial aspects of wine. The most prevalent type of fraud is one where wines are adulterated, usually with the addition of cheaper products (e.g. juices) and sometimes with harmful chemicals and sweeteners (compensating for color or flavor).

Counterfeiting and the relabelling of inferior and cheaper wines to more expensive brands is another common type of wine fraud.

A third category of wine fraud relates to the investment wine industry. An example of this is when wines are offered to investors at excessively high prices by a company who then go into planned liquidation. In some cases the wine is never bought for the investor. Losses in the UK have been high, prompting the Department of Trade and Industry and Police to act. In the US, investors have been duped by fraudulent investment wine firms. Independent guidelines to potential wine investors are now available.

In wine production, as wine is technically defined as fermented grape juice, the term "wine fraud" can be used to describe the adulteration of wine by substances that are not related to grapes. In the retailing of wine, as wine is comparable with any other commodity, the term "wine fraud" can be used to describe the mis-selling of wine (either as an investment or in its deceitful misrepresentation) in general.

Fraud in wine production refers to the use of additives in order to deceive. This may include coloring agents such as elderberry juice, and flavorings such as cinnamon at best, or less desirable additives at worst. Some varieties of wine have sought after characteristics. For example some wines have a deep, dark color and flavor notes of spices due to the presence of various phenolic compounds found in the skin of the grapes. Fraudsters will use additives to artificially create these characteristics when they are lacking. Fraud in the selling of wine has seen much attention focused on label fraud and the investment wine market. Counterfeit labelling of rare, expensive, and cult wines, and unregulated investment wine firms characterise this type of fraud. ''Wine Spectator'' noted as much as 5% of the wine sold in secondary markets could be counterfeitM. Frank, ''Wine Spectator'' ( January 31-February 28, 2007). "Counterfeit bottles multiply as global demand for collectible wine surges", p.14 and the DTI (UK) believes losses by investors to rogue wine investment firms amount to hundreds of millions of pounds.

History

For as long as wine has been made, it has been manipulated, adulterated, and counterfeited. In ancient Rome, Pliny the Elder complained about the abundance of fraudulent Roman wine which was so great that even the nobility could not be assured that the wine they were pouring on their table was genuine. For the poor and middle class of Rome, local bar establishments seemed to have an unlimited supply of the prestigious Falernian wine for unusually low prices.J. Robinson (ed) ''"The Oxford Companion to Wine"'' Third Edition pg 4 & 26-27 Oxford University Press 2006

During the Middle Ages, wines from questionable origins were often passed off as wines from more prestigious regions. In London, local authorities established laws for tavern owners prohibiting French, Spanish, and German wines from being cellared together so as to prevent the potential for mixing the wines or falsely representing them to the consumer. If a producer or merchant was found selling fraudulent or "corrupt wine", they were forced to drink all of it. In medieval Germany, the penalty for selling fraudulent wine ranged from branding to beating to death by hanging.

During the Age of Enlightenment, advancements in science ushered in a new occupation of "wine doctors" who could fashion examples of wines from obscure items and chemicals. Writers like Joseph Addison wrote of this "fraternity of chymical operators (sic)" who would use apples to make Champagne and sloe to make Bordeaux and then sell these wines fraudulently on the market. Following the Phylloxera epidemic, when true wine was scarce, wine fraud rose. Some merchants would take dried raisins grown from other species of grapevines and make wine that they passed off as being from a more prestigious provenance such as the more well known wines from France or Italy.

In the early 19th century, several European writers wrote about the risk and prevalence of wine fraud. In 1820, German chemist Friedrich Accum noted that wine was one of the commodities most at risk for being fraudulently manipulated and misrepresented. In 1833, the British wine writer Cyrus Redding echoed the alarm over the unchecked operations of these "wine doctors". Eventually the concern over wine fraud grew enough that provisions against the adulteration and misrepresentation of wine was included in British Parliament's Adulteration of Food and Drink Act 1860. Several European governments also enacted legislation defining what exactly constitutes "wine" so as to distinguish authentic winemaking from the workings of these wine counterfeiters. The French government first legally defined wine as the product of fermented grape juice in 1889, followed by the German government in 1892 (later expanded in 1909) and the Italian government in 1904.

Fraud of a different nature occurred during prohibition in the United States, when wine production was illegal, as grape merchants would sell "bricks" of grape concentrate across the United States along with a packet of dried yeast. The bricks would come with a "warning label" cautioning people not to mix the contents of the brick, yeast, water, and sugar in a pot and then seal such pot for seven days, or else "an illegal alcoholic beverage will result".K. MacNeil ''The Wine Bible'' pg 630-631 Workman Publishing 2001

The practice of adding grape spirits to wine was once considered manipulative and fraudulent, but today is accepted practice for the production of all fortified wines, like Port.

Over the years, winemaking techniques have evolved. The first, primitive " natural wine" or "authentic wine" was most likely the result of crushed grapes being forgotten while stored in a container. The process of allowing wild yeast found on the surface of the grape conduct fermentation in an uncontrolled environment creates a very crude style of wine that may not be palatable to many people, hence the development of various techniques and practices designed to improve the quality of the wine but which could be viewed as "manipulating" or "adulterating" the wine from its natural or "authentic state". At various points in history, these techniques may be considered “too much” manipulation, more than what a consumer would likely expect, and thus labeled as "fraud". However, as these techniques became more common place in the wine industry, they gained an air of acceptability and eventually became just another tool in the winemaker's tool box to help craft good-quality wine.D. Bird ''Understanding Wine Technology'' pgs 1-7, 223-233 DBQA Publishing 2005

Most techniques of manipulation arose from need. Early wine had many wine faults that caused a wine to spoil quickly. Classical writings from the Greeks and Romans detailed recipes that could cure "sick wines". These include adding various items like milk, ground mustard, ashes, nettles, and lead. Another example of early "manipulation" that became accepted, common practice was the process of adding grape spirit to wine made in the Douro region of Portugal. This process of fortification gave the wine chemical stability for long sea voyages and, when added during the fermentation process, left the wine with a balance of residual sugar and alcohol content that gave the wine a unique taste. This style of wine became very popular on the world wine market. Today the accepted way to make Port is to "manipulate" it by adding brandy during the fermentation process.

Other winemaking techniques that have been at various times considered fraudulent or too manipulative of the wine include chaptalization, fermenting and aging in oak barrels, using oak chips, stirring lees, racking, clarification and filtration, reverse osmosis, cold maceration, the use of cultured instead of wild yeast, cryo-extraction, micro-oxygenation, and the addition of enzymes, anti-oxidant agents, acids or other sugars that may be used to "balance" the wine.J. Robinson (ed) ''"The Oxford Companion to Wine"'' Third Edition pg 424-425 Oxford University Press 2006

While some winemaking techniques once considered fraudulent are now generally accepted, a few practices have gone in the opposite direction. One of the most controversial is adding water to wine in a technique known today as humidification. Master of wine Jancis Robinson calls the act of adding water to "stretch out" or dilute wine "possibly the oldest form of wine fraud in the book."J. Robinson '
Adding water to wine
'' Purple Pages, December 31st 2002 There is a long history of adding water to dilute wine in order to make it more palatable. The ancient Greeks thought it was "barbaric" to drink undiluted wine. They further believed that undiluted wine was unhealthy and that the Spartan king Cleomenes I was once driven insane after drinking wine that was not diluted with water. Today, few consumers dilute their wine as the Greeks did, but the use of water during the winemaking process is still prevalent.J. Robinson (ed) ''"The Oxford Companion to Wine"'' Third Edition pg 762 Oxford University Press 2006

Today water is used to help balance extremely ripe grapes that would have a high concentration of sugars and phenolic compounds. Modern winemaking has begun to promote higher levels of ripeness and longer "hang time" on the vine before harvesting. This increased emphasis on ripeness has had the effect of producing wines with higher alcohol levels (often over 15%). In many countries, such high alcohol levels qualify the wines for higher levels of duties and taxes. Adding water to grape must can dilute the wine to such a degree that the overall alcohol by volume drops below the percentage threshold for these higher taxes. The deliberate act of diluting a wine with water in order to pay lower duties and taxes is illegal in several countries.

The gray area between accepted practice and fraud is where water is added to the winemaking process as a means of "quality preservation". Water is often used during the winemaking process to help pump grapes through equipment and to "rehydrate" the grapes that have begun to shrivel from the extended hang time. This rehydration is used to help balance the wine and, it is hoped, to prevent "dried fruit" flavors that may be unpalatable to the consumer. In the United States, the California Wine Institute has developed guidelines that allow for the addition of a certain amount of water to compensate for the loss of natural water in the vineyard from dehydration. The addition of water has been argued by its proponents as necessary to prevent stuck fermentations. Despite being allowed limited legal use, the practice of adding water to wine is still shrouded in controversy, and few winemakers willingly admit to it. A "code word" for the practice in the wine industry is adding "Jesus units" in a play on words about the Biblical story of the miracle performed at the Marriage at Cana where Jesus turned water into wine.

Label fraud

One form of fraud involves affixing counterfeit labels of expensive wines to bottles of less expensive wine. This practice became particularly prominent following the devastation of the phylloxera epidemic in the 19th century when the supply of expensive premium wine was scarce. At first, the label fraud mostly consisted of taking a wine from a region of lesser acclaim (such as Southwest France or Calabria in Italy) and then labeling the wine as if it came from more prestigious regions such as Bordeaux or Tuscany. To counter this type of fraud, governments developed extensive appellation systems and Protected Designation of Origin or (PDOs) that attempted to regulate wines labeled as coming from particular wine regions. Early attempts to protect the name of a wine region led to government declaration on the boundaries and wine permitted to carry the names of Chianti, Oporto and Tokaji. Today most major European wine producing countries have some appellation system of protected origins. The most well known systems include the ''Appellation d'origine contrôlée'' (AOC) used in France, the ''Denominazione di origine controllata'' (DOC) used in Italy, the '' Denominação de Origem Controlada'' (DOC) used in Portugal, and the '' Denominación de Origen'' (DO) system used in Spain. Producers who are registered in each appellation must abide by the appellation's rules, including exact percentage of grapes (often 100%) that must come from that region. Producers who fraudulently use grapes outside the region they are proclaiming on their wine labels can be caught by the appellation's authorities.

As it became more difficult to fraudulently label wines with the wrong provenance, label fraud soon evolved to the pilfering of the identities of wine estates themselves. Merchants would take the bottles of lesser priced wines and label them with the names of the finest classified Bordeaux estates or Grand crus of Burgundy. Label fraud, to be done well, requires bottles, corks, and packaging to be similarly manipulated. Reporter "disclosed that many famous Champagne houses

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