Deceptive wine merchants

  There is a very deceptive practice going on amongst some of the small wineries where I live. We don't get enough heat in the summer to produce really sweet grapes but we do get plenty of plane, boat and bus loads of tourists. And it turns out tourist like to sample wine. The best grape growing region in the province is far inland and not near our big international airport in Vancouver.

    This problem has been solved by importing giant vats of grape juice from hot sunny distant locales and mixing them with the local grapes. I discovered this in a roundabout way while talking to an employee of a winery who hadn't been properly coached. This practice isn't something they advertise. I couldn't care less about wine since I don't drink alcohol – never have. I'm just wondering is this sort of practice common in other areas and with other products.

  To me if I see a product that says a place name on the bottle that would mean that whatever is in the bottle comes from that place. And if this is not the case then I believe we have a lie of omission.

    Is this a common practice within the organic gardening community or is it unique to the vinters on Vancouver Island?

  If I don't make any new postings next week it just means I've been chained up in a wine cellar without my computer.

This is a common practice in many wine growing regions of the world.  Different countries have different labeling requirements.  North America has lax laws compared to some of the European wine regions, but we are trying to crack down on the practice.

Most European wines are distinguished by regions, and "houses", while in US, Australia, So. Africa, Chile, Argentina, etc, etc, wines are distinguished by the type of grape(s) used.

In the US, there are specified "appelations", and wines labeled as such must be entirely from that region.

It is a very complex issue...books have been written about it...far beyond the scope of a non-wine forum to discuss.

    So does this go on with other agricultural products?      I've seen quite a bit of misleading and deceptive advertising surrounding food but I'm not aware of lies being told concerning geographical origin.

   One thing I see at every grocery store is veggie raised eggs. To me this means, "These eggs have been produced by chickens which consume a diet completely outside of what is natural for their species."  I can only assume that most customers don't consider that in their purchasing decisions.  Another one which I know to be highly deceptive is free range eggs as sold by the big grocery chains. I've seen some of these chickens in outdoor runs but it's certainly not a farmyard situation where they could pursue worms, eat grass or do anything else which is natural behavior for a chicken.

Seems to me many food claims are as honest as the politicians.