Georges Duboeuf, the largest Beaujolais bottler by far, has been called "the prince of Beaujolais" and "the Beaujolais king." He is a négociant who produces more than 25 million cases of wine annually. Duboeuf is almost single-handedly responsible for the annual Beaujolais nouveau phenomenon, and has won countless awards for his wines. These wines are easily recognizeable by the flowers on the labels, and the distinctive Duboeuf insignia. Beaujolais is a historical province and a wine-producing region in France. ... A négociant is a wine merchant who assembles the produce of smaller growers and winemakers and sells the result under its own name. ... Wine is an alcoholic beverage produced by the fermentation of grapes and grape juice. ... Two examples of Beaujolais nouveau Beaujolais nouveau is a wine of the Gamay variety produced in the Beaujolais (AOC) region of France that is authorized for immediate sale after fermentation. ...

Duboeuf has been accused of wine fraud by Prosecutor Francis Battut, who said "everything was being mixed" in La Maison Dubouf, "Beaujolais with Beaujolais -Villages, cru wines with Beaujolais-Villages, and so on." Duboeuf has fired his former production manager. Wine fraud has probably existed since the earliest trading and commerce in wine, but it appears to increase when there is widespread prosperity and the prices of some wines become very high. ...

See also

• French Wine

France is one of the oldest wine producing regions of Europe, and also is generally considered to be one of the most prestigious, if not the best. ...

Source

• Grapes of Wrath