Cagopoli

I was told about this in confidence but it seems to be open knowledge now.

Some producers of ultra-cheap bulk wines, which show up on cut-rate supermarket shelves and are bought by the poorest citizens of Italy, are adulterated with dirt/mud and shit shipped in large bags all the way from China. Which means human shit.

I do hope you aren't reading this at breakfast.

What's more, the proximate origin of these treats is Puglia and the destination is Veneto. It is nice to see the North and the Mezzogiorno working in perfect harmony.

Why, you might well ask, would anyone do this? Greed, of course. Foul matter is added to the must of the offending producers' to bulk it up and add, um, substance to some very thin wine. I shall assume it is not white wine.

Italian fraud authorities are said to be coming down hard on this nth case of recent wine fraud/adulteration. Clearly, this is as much of a crisis period as the methanol scandal of the 1980s. The country's wine image is sullied (probably more at home than abroad in this case) and a cloud hangs over some of Italy's biggest if not truly best houses.

Like many others, this particularly disgusting scandal, which entails the rich possibility of harm to the most vulnerable segment of society, stinks of an inhuman disregard for the people's well-being. The cynicism of the web of deals that led to the current situation is beyond the comprehension of anyone who is not, shall we say, a sociopath.

And of course it's a slap in the face to the thousands of honest, hard-working men and women who pour their souls into their vines and the delicious, pure wines they make. Italy has, thank God, many more of these lovely people than it has the greedy bastards who have created Shit City - Cagopoli.

All power to the salt of the earth, winemaking contingent.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Comments

[Tommaso]

Cazzate, Cazzate is a italian word to say bullshit. But how can you invent similar stories on italian wine??

[TH]

I think it's better translated as "fucking bullshit." But what is your point exactly?