Why, when it's made from audulterated wine sold to look like Pinot Noir by fraudseters in the Languedoc wine region of France to major Californian producer Gallo!

I first got tipped off about this story by Alison when it appeared on the news wires while she was at work. It wasn't every long before it made the likes of Decanter online and the Guardian newspaper and even Radio 5 Live - thanks for the early tip Ali!

With such illustrious news content providers as those above i'm not going to comment much about the story itself. I'll leave that to Decanter editor Guy Woodward who labelled the episode a 'comedy' saying that this was Gallo's 'clumsy attempt to ride the post-Sideways Pinot Noir craze by peddling Red Bicyclette as an authentic French Pinot.'

'The world's biggest single wine producer being hoodwinked by a group of errant French vignerons is funny and depressing at the same time.'

'It doesn't say much for Gallo's professionalism that its buyers couldn't tell the different between Pinot, Merlot and Shiraz,' he said.

But it did make me think a bit about Pinot Noir. This is a grape variety that is very yield and site sensitive. To get the best out of it costs money in time and effort. Red Burgundy is the epitome of great Pinot Noir for most wine drinkers. Sure, the New World is fast catching up in many ways. In particular New Zealand Pinot Noir I think offers the best value Pinot Noir experience in the £15-20 bracket, but Burgundy is definitely where the heart is

In Burgundy especially it is the producer that is all important. Vintage matters, but even in so called 'off vintages' the good guys will make interesting wines.

Which is why we like to have people on the ground to taste the latest releases for ourselves, searching out the very best wines to offer to you here on Surf4Wine. We are just about to despatch our Burgundy buying team to check out latest release from some of our favourite producers - the likes of Christian Moreau in Chablis, Vigile Lignier in Morey Saint Denis, Vincent Bouzereau in Meursault, Bruno Colin in Chassagne Montrachet, Rene Lequin-Colin in Santenay and Bachelet-Monnot in Dezize les Maranges.

We'll try and post reports here direct from the vineyards, and then they'll be a full report on their return.

 Meantime, look out for wobbly red Bicycles! ;)

The UK has become the world's biggest importer of wine. 'Britain has overtaken Germany to become the world’s biggest importer of wine, shipping a total of more than 1.6 billion bottles from wine-producing nations such as Italy, France, Spain, America and Australia, according to figures out earlier this month...' (quote from The Times, 14th January 2009).

But, the wine industry in the UK hasn't escaped the effects of the recession: wine sales in the UK dropped by more than 3.5% in 2008 and the drop is predicted to continue as the recession takes hold.

So, are there still ways to get decent wine in these credit-crunched times? I would say absolutely! But don't take my word for it - courtesy of the BBC, wine journalist and all round wine boff Olly Smith, takes us through some options for good value in the recession in this video (click the image or the link to play).

So, what are Olly's top tips? South Africa, Chile and Austria. And if you are looking for an alternative to the ubiquitous Pinot Grigio, look no further than Picpoul de Pinet from the Languedoc in the South of France.