Wine fraud wine from Spain, Rhone or the Languedoc to blend and stretch out their wine which they sold to the English as claret. While this practice would be frowned upon today by Bordeaux authorities, the French wine writer André Jullien noted that some merchants believed this practice was necessary in order for the claret to be agreeable with English tastes—a practice he describes as ""travail à l'anglaise"". Reporter Doutrelant reported the comments of "a government inspector on the illegal use of sugar to boost the alcoholic content of Beaujolais-Villages: 'If the law had been enforced in 1973 and 1974, at least
History of French wine Pontigny Abbey was believed to have been the first to plant Chardonnay in the region. Cistercian vineyards produced highly regarded wines in Provence and Sancerre. The Cistercian monks applied their ascetic habits, skilled labour and organization philosophy to wine making in a manner unique to French wine. Through their detailed record-keeping and observations, the monks began to notice that certain plots of lands, even those only a few feet apart, produced remarkably different wines. These observation laid the groundwork on the identification of certain "crus" of vineyards and the French understanding of "terroir". Through their extensive holdings, the monasteries of