Winery Fire Breaks Out in South West France

Aug 25, 2023

Some news outlets are still dining out on the story of the Belgian television team that gave a €2.50 bottle of wine a makeover and entered it into a competition to win a gold (see Belgian Wine Wins Gold in France). Spanish broadsheet El Mundo, for instance, ran with the story on Friday.

Meanwhile, in Europe, the press was full of the new EU labeling requirements in the offing with talk of QR codes on labels to view wine ingredients, all while outrage continued to pour out in the direction of Ireland for its move to place health warnings on wine labels.

Here, though, are some of the week's stories you might have missed.

Multiple fire brigade units were called out on Wednesday mid-afternoon to a winery fire in the Parnac area of western Cahors, South West France. According to reports, local firefighters were confronted on arrival with a blaze raging across a cellar covering 1000m2.

In all, 40 firefighters attended the high-risk fire, deploying three hoses and a Chemical Risk Team. The winery held a significant quantity of walnuts as well as wine stocks in the building.

"Given the presence on site of a stock of spray products and a gas tank with a flaming leak, the Departmental Operational Center for Fire and Rescue (CODIS46) upped the resources [allocated to the blaze]," said the regional fire service in a communiqué. "In addition, an exterior wine spill leaking into a 30m2 retention tank also led to the commitment of the Chemical Risk specialist team."

The blaze was put out by the evening, however, a safety perimeter was established overnight due to the damage to the cellar walls. Teams remained on site until Thursday to ensure secondary fires did not take hold. No one was injured in the blaze.

Although perhaps not well-known as Cahors subregion, Parnac, which lies on a low-lying bend in the Lot river, nonetheless boasts a number of wineries of varying size. It also lies on the opposite bank of the river to the well-known Château de Cayx – the wine domaine and summer bolt-hole of the Danish royal family (see Let them eat Cayx: Danish royal wine surges – news item #5).

Sancerre-based natural winemaker Sébastien Riffault has won his highly publicised defamation case against Beaujolais winemaker and anti-sexist whistleblower, Isabelle Perraud. A Bourges court ruled on Friday that Perraud must pay just under €30,000 in damages to Riffault for alleging the latter engaged in sexist behavior and sexual assault.

Riffault had originally demanded €300,000 in damages although this had been revised downwards in view of "common law practices". In total, Perraud was fined €1,500 for moral damages, €24,421 for financial damages and €3,000 in costs.

With regard to financial damages "the court considered that Isabelle Perraud '[could] not be held solely responsible for this misfortune'", said French wine news website Vitisphere.com, adding that the court assessed [Perraud's] liability "at 20 percent of the losses".

According to independent online journal Rue89Lyon, the court found that, while Perraud had been acting in the public interest, her social media posts relaying the accusations against the Loire winegrower had shown "culpable recklessness".

"As a result, a lack of 'factual basis' led to the condemnation of the winegrower [Perraud]," said the website.

The allegations against Riffault came to light early last year (see Winemaker Given Support over Sex Claims) with Riffault's defamation claim following shortly afterwards. A ruling had been expected in April (see Riffault Defamation Ruling Deferred in Introducing the First AI Wine) but was deferred until 8 June – although this was brought forward to Friday (2 June).

The case has seen numerous witnesses, including Lisa Lind Dunbar, the original writer of a exposé on sexual assault in the Danish restaurant scene which referenced a "well-known French winemaker" – later linked to Riffault by numerous sources (including, inadvisedly perhaps, Riffault's own supporters' Instagram account: Soutien à Sébastien Riffault @soutienasebastienriffault).

Riffault's wife also testified in court, countering an accusation that her husband had placed his hand on a visitor's buttocks during a meal and visit to the winemaker's property.

"According to her, the assault did not occur, because she was present at this party and saw nothing," said Rue89Lyon.

Beyond the courtroom, French broadsheet Libération published an in-depth piece on the accusations against Riffault back in April.

According to local newspaper Le Berry Républicain, Perraud, who runs the anti-sexist wine site and Instagram account, Paye Ton Pinard (@paye_tonpinard) has one month to appeal and has,yet to indicate whether or not she will do so.

"The only desire of this sexist ruling is that women keep quiet," Perraud told Rue89Lyon. "I am sad for all women and all victims."

She has indicated elsewhere that she does not currently have the funds to pay the fine.

More drama in South West France this week where a man and a woman were sentenced this week after their attempt to pass off six bottles of top wines as a half-case of plonk failed in a supermarket in the outskirts of Pau, in South West France, last week.

According to French regional news outlet, Actu, the attempt to defraud the unnamed supermarket in the commune of Mazères-Lezons began on Monday 22 May, when a 52 year-old man slid five bottles of wine worth €695 and a sixth, worth €550, into a six-bottle carton of wines worth six euros a bottle.

The man then hid the box in the textiles department. He returned to the E. Leclerc supermarket (there is only one major supermarket in Mazères-Lezons) on Friday 26 May to move the box to the kitchen aisle.

Following this, a 47 year-old woman entered the Leclerc, picked up the case and took it to the till. In the interim, however, personnel at the supermarket had spotted the suspicious behavior on CCTV and the police were called on the attempted fraud.

The woman has been remanded in custody until 16 June while the man, who pleaded guilty, received a three-month jail sentence.

Chile has recorded another month of negative figures in year-on-year wine export volumes. Quoting figures from the national wine body, Vinos de Chile, national daily La Tercera said April 2023 saw a drop of 29.6 percent in volume and 26.8 percent in value on the previous year, despite the average wine price registering a four percent increase over the same period.

"So far this year, the decreases registered in the first four months of 2023 result in an accumulated decrease of 20.5 percent in volume and 21.4 percent in value, compared to the same period of the previous year," said the paper.

The trend in Chile mirrors that currently experienced by numerous wine-producing countries.

"The scenario of lower world economic growth, inflation, war, the energy crisis, in addition to the [Covid-19] pandemic's effect on the logistics chain that has not yet completely disappeared, have had an impact on our exports," said Vinos de Chile.

Exports decreased to China (down 39 percent in volume and 34 percent in value); Brazil (down 47 percent in volume and 44 percent in value); Japan (down 35 percent in volume and value); Holland (46 percent down in volume and 42 percent in value); Canada (23 percent down in volume and 29 percent in value); Mexico (18 percent down in volume and 23 percent down in value); and South Korea, with a drop of 57 percent in volume and 73 percent in value.

Putting a positive spin on the figures, exports to the US have reportedly bucked the trend, with an increase of 13 percent in volume and 18 percent in value, while UK exports have maintained a steady pace and France has emerged as a potentially fruitful market, "which stands out for its high average price".

An archeological conference being held in Ibiza on Friday opened with one of the keynote speakers, Isabel Bonora Andújar, curator of the Louvre Museum in Paris, touching on ancient wine production techniques in the Mediterranean.

While much of Bonora Andújar's talk will focus on the cultivation of olives, olive oil production and transport in ancient times, a little more light was shed on wine production in antiquity via an interview with local newspaper Diario de Ibiza.

While she said more research was needed into whether or not amphorae were used for more than one product (even for more than one voyage), it was clear the ancient wine press was not dedicated solely to grapes.

"In Ibiza, before the arrival of the Romans, the presses existed for any type of product," she told the publication. "Traditionally, most of them were related to wine, but these structures were used for very diverse products: wine was pressed, it was cleaned, oil was pressed, it was cleaned, and so on."

Furthermore, while the jury was still out as to how close Roman-era olive oil was to today's product, wine was very different.

"We know [wine] had nothing in common with the current [beverage]," she added. "The fermentations are very different and a large amount of herbs, meads, flavors were added. We believe that the wines were very different."

The third conference on the Mediterranean Triad (wine, olives and corn) in Ibiza and Formentera (Tríada Mediterránea a l'Eivissa Antigua) was held on Friday evening at 8pm at the Archeological Museum of Ibiza and Formentera.

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