LeDomduVin: Fake and counterfeit wines - Investigation series: Labels, Chateau L’ Angélus 1970 and the "L' " of Angélus and other wine labels

Ledomduvin - Fabien Pizzinat picture of a rather peculiar label of Chateau l'Angélus 1970  
bottled by negociant Philippe Serrande & Co. 

Fake and counterfeit wines - Investigation series: Labels, Chateau L'Angélus 1970 and the "L" of Angélus and other wine labels

Have you ever seen unusual labels on old Bordeaux bottles and questioned whether they are originals, fakes, or counterfeits? 

Well, if you're a Bordeaux lover, especially the older vintages from the 1940s to the 1980s, you surely did, and for good reasons, as some are drastically different from the originals.   

Labels

As developed and further detailed in previous posts about fake and counterfeit wines, labels, and bottles (read them here and also here), it is essential to differentiate the three main types of real labels: 

1.  The property label: for all wines made at the property

2.  The Negociant labels: for all wines made by a Negociant

• Label under the producer's name (Chateaux, Domaines, etc.) with the Negociant name on the label as agreed by both parties: generally for all finished wines produced and bought directly from the property, yet aged, bottled, labeled, stored, and sold by the Negociant in a country other than the country of origin, mentioning both the producer or property name and the Negociant name, either in a label that closely resembles the original or in a label completely redesigned by the Negociant (to differentiate it from the original and make it his own).  

• Label under the Negociant name only: generally for all wines made from grapes, grape juice, or partially fermented wine, produced, aged, bottled, labeled, stored, and sold by the Negociant without mentioning the source.  

3. The Cooperative label generally applies to all wines from grapes, grape juice, or partially fermented wine sourced from various growers or vignerons. The cooperative then produces, ages, bottles, labels, stores, and sells these wines under multiple names and labels while mentioning the cooperative as the place of production and bottling.   

 

There are surely other labels, but these are the most common types.  

Then it is crucial to understand the difference between fake and counterfeit labels, as these labels typically apply to famous, rare, and expensive wines.  

1. Fake labels usually apply to valuable and rare wines, but not only. They are generally made intentionally to seem different from what they are, to deceive customers who are not connoisseurs or amateurs, yet may have heard of the name. They might fall for it (knowingly or unknowingly), or simply buy it under the impression that they purchased something resembling the original but at a cheaper price.     

• A label similar or nearly identical to the original but presenting obvious mistakes (misspelling, wrong color, font, image, etc)   

• A label displaying the correct name of the producer or property, yet totally different in style and concept from the original

2.  Counterfeit labels usually refer to close imitations or replicas of valuable and rare wines. They are deliberately created to deceive connoisseurs and amateurs, leading them to believe they are purchasing the genuine articles. These labels are often crafted with such skill that the differences from the originals may not be apparent to the untrained eye. As with everything, the devil is in the details (paper used, color, ink, texture, font, invisible marks, anti-counterfeit technologies embedded in the label, etc). 

Now that we have established these differences between labels, let's begin.  

Today's post is about Negociant labels, Chateau L’Angélus, the "L' " of Angélus, and other wine labels. It was inspired by a post on Facebook by Fabien Pizzinat (*) on the Facebook page/group called "Wine Business" on Saturday, September 2nd, 2018. 

Fabien Pizzinat posted the picture of Chateau L'Angelus 1970 (above in the header) and wrote the following: 

"Bonjour! J'ai récupéré des bouteilles de Chateau L’Angélus 1970 mise négoce Philippe Serrande. Quelqu'un connait-il ce négociant? Merci pour votre aide. Fabien" 

Which literally can be translated by: 

"Hello! I just got some bottles of Chateau L'Angélus 1970 bottled by a négociant called Philippe Serrande. Does anyone know this négociant? Thanks for your help. Fabien".

As you can see in Fabien's picture, this is a rather peculiar label for Chateau L'Angélus 1970 (personally, it is the first time in my 27-year career in the wine business and trade that I have seen such a label of Angélus). I do not know the Negociant either. Yet, nothing is wrong with that; this label is different, as it is supposed to be a "Négociant label".

What is a "Négociant Label"? It is a label not designed, chosen, or labeled by or at the property, but rather by a Négociant.

What is a "Négociant"? A Négociant is a wine merchant, wholesaler, or winemaker who sources and buys grapes, grape juice, or partially fermented or finished wine (either in barrels for further ageing or already bottled) from others (vignerons, growers, producers, chateaux, domaines, cooperatives, etc) and sells the wine produced under his or her own name or label, or under the original name but with a different label which mention his or her name (see examples in the pictures below, like the label of Petrus from Chateau Petrus 1947 aged and bottled by J. Vandermeulen-Decanniere (Ostende, Belgium)).   

Is it legal? Yes, it is legal as long as it is done transparently and agreed upon by both the original producer and the Négociant. And, it has been going on for hundreds of years.  

Bordeaux - Port de la Lune - 1898 - Courtesy of https://lostontheroute.com/

Historical Aparté about Negociants, Barrels and Bottles

The British were already buying wine from the French in the 12th century. At that time, Bordeaux was one of the largest cities in France and the capital of the Kingdom of Aquitaine, which later became the region of Aquitaine. 

The Kingdom of Aquitaine passed to France in 1137 when the Duchess Eleanor of Aquitaine married Louis VII of France, but their marriage was annulled in 1152. When Eleanor's new husband, King Henry II of England, ascended to the throne in 1154, the area became an English possession and a cornerstone of the Angevin Empire. Aquitaine remained under English control until the end of the Hundred Years' War in 1453, when it was annexed by France. (**)

Links between Aquitaine and England strengthened over the three hundred years during which the Kings of England ruled the region. Large quantities of wine produced in southwestern France were exported to London, Southampton, and other English ports. In fact, so much wine and other products were shipped to London and sold that by the start of the Hundred Years' War (a series of conflicts fought between England and France over succession to the French throne, between 1337-1453), profits from Aquitaine became the principal source of the English king's annual income. (**)

The wine was transported from Bordeaux to England in 900-liter barrels, corresponding to four 225-liter "barriques bordelaise" (Bordeaux barrels), which later became the standard unit. The wine merchants of that era established the foundation of what would become the Negociants.  

Originally from Burgundy, the term "Negociants" designated wine merchants who bought grapes or wine from small producers or winemakers and then aged, bottled, packed, and offered them under their own name.

Although some of the vineyards that would later become some of the most famous Chateaux of Bordeaux trace their origins back to the 12th century (e.g., Chateau Margaux, known as La Mothe de Margaux), most producers were mainly selling their wines under the name of "Bordeaux" until the 1600s. 

By the 1600s, the most recognized Bordeaux vineyards, villages, communes, areas, and châteaux began to shape the map of Bordeaux's wine regions, allowing discerning consumers to choose their preferred vineyard(s) or area(s). The foremost Chateaux that gained recognition then were Margaux, Haut-Brion, Latour, and Lafite. As taste, character, and style differed from one chateau to another and from one area to another, buyers gradually sought wines from specific Chateaux and communes.

As the differences among vineyards, Châteaux, communes, areas, and even regions became more distinguishable and recognized, more Châteaux on both the Left and Right banks started to attract a following. 

For all this to occur, a system had to be established to allow producers to continue focusing on wine quality and production, while wine merchants handled the aging, bottling, promotion, sales, and distribution. This led to the emergence of negociants (wine merchants) and courtiers (commercial agents). Together, they formed what is still called "La Place de Bordeaux". 

The courtiers were typically advisers, promoters, and close friends of the Chateaux. They advised the Chateaux on whom to sell to while taking a small percentage of the sales for their services. They bridged the gap between grape producers, vineyard owners (Chateaux), and the buyers (the wine merchants who became Negociants). Furthermore, they advised on allocations (who gets what), particularly for top wines in good vintages. They ensured not to sell everything at once by suggesting to the Chateaux to keep some for their vintage library and some in reserve for later release, usually at a much higher price than the initial release price.    

As demand surged and because some of the best parcels were fragmented (not always owned by the Chateaux then), they also negotiated and aggregated enough grapes or wines from small growers for the Chateaux to buy, then vinified the wine. The chateaux usually took care of all the steps of the vinification up until the wines were in the barrels, ready to be sold to the negociants, who in turn would age, bottle, store, and sell the wines in France and other countries.  

The first negociants emerged around 1620, notably the Dutch Negociants "Beyerman". By the early 1700s, the industry grew rapidly with the founding of several new firms, many of which are still active today. Some of these companies boast over 350 years of experience. Among them are Schroder and Schyler, Nathaniel Johnston, Thomas Barton, and the Lawtons.

For roughly the last 400 years, Négociants (French, English, Dutch, Belgian, Swiss, Irish, etc.) have engaged in a highly profitable business by buying barrels directly from the property and shipping them to their warehouses (either in France or their respective countries) to age, bottle, label and store the wines. They then sell the wines under their own label and name (while mentioning the original name alongside their own on the label), rather than under the original Château label (if any). 

The main reason for this arrangement was that, from the 1600s until the late 1800s, it was easier for most vignerons, producers, châteaux, and domaines who could not afford to age, bottle, and store their wines on-site due to limitations in space, facilities, equipment, manpower, finances, knowledge, and skills, among other factors, to have their wine aged, bottled, labeled and stored by négociants and other types of wine merchants. 

Selling their wines to the Negociants also helped the producers financially by ensuring immediate payment and cash flow, giving them peace of mind and not having to think about bottling, promoting, selling, and distributing their wines.     

In addition to aging, bottling, storing, promoting, and selling the Chateaux wines, the négociant also evaluated the quality of the wine, particularly during an era when dishonest winemakers and unscrupulous innkeepers intentionally diluted or adulterated the wines they provided to customers.

The negociants often pre-sold the wines before bottling, ensuring sales and cash flow before release. This method, known as "En Primeur" (occasionally translated as "wine futures" in English), involves purchasing wines early while the wine (the current vintage) is still in the barrel. 

This offers customers the opportunity to invest before the wine is bottled. Payment is made at an early stage, a year or 18 months before the official release of a vintage. The advantage of buying wines en primeur is that the first released prices, also known as the "First Tranche", may be considerably cheaper during the en primeur period than they will be once bottled and released to the market.

During the En Primeur period, depending on the quality of the vintage, the quantity initially purchased, and the necessity to buy and/or offer more based on demand, Negociants may divide their initial stocks or acquire additional wines from the Chateaux to provide a "Second Tranche" and even a "Third Tranche" at prices respectively higher than the 1st Tranche and 2nd Tranche. 

The "En Primeur" period usually starts at the end of March or early April of the year following the vintage (e.g., the 2015 vintage is offered En Primeur by March/April of 2016) and typically lasts until the leading châteaux release their prices, which generally occurs gradually between April and the end of June, or early July at the latest. The top châteaux usually set their prices first, indexed on the price of previous vintages and based on the quality of the vintage and other factors. These prices are often considered benchmarks for other châteaux to price their wines. 

The wines are typically released after an aging period of 14 to 18 months (up to 24 months), depending on the quality of the vintage and the style, extraction, concentration, and flavor that the chateau aims to achieve (e.g., "Harvest occurs in September/October of 2015, as the duration of barrel-aging may vary, so the wine can be bottled as early as March/April of 2017 up until June of 2017").     

The early 1600s witnessed the establishment of the Place de Bordeaux, where the Châteaux sold their wine to the négociants through the courtiers, as well as the development of the Bordeaux wine regions and their reputation.  

Yet, with such a system in place and increasing demand, improvements in bottling, bottle shapes and sizes, and bottle storage and solutions to facilitate packing, transportation, and logistics became necessary. 

LeDomduVin: The Evolution of Wine Bottle Shapes - 1600s to 1800s (©Ledomduvin 2025)

Pictures of the bottles in the collage courtesy of http://www.bonhams.com

(Bottles from the Collection of A C Hubbard Jr)

In England, the creation of the coal furnace in the 1600s enabled the production of thicker, more durable glass, marking the beginning of glass bottles that could securely transport wine. 

Yet, from the 1600s until the early 1800s, the hand-blown glass bottles used for wine came in various and inconsistent shapes, sizes, and formats, making them more challenging to store and carry than today’s "regular" bottles. 

The "Mallet" bottle (due to its hammer or mallet shape), which was used for wine (and other alcoholic beverages such as rum or port), became common at the beginning of the 1700s (18th century). As shown in the collage above, the bottles gradually evolved from the late 1600s to the early 1800s, transforming from an onion-shaped form with a short neck to a three-part moulded cylindrical shape, characterized by straighter sides, higher shoulders, and a longer neck. 

The three-part moulded cylindrical shape eventually led to the "standard" Bordeaux bottle as we know it today, along with all the other shapes adopted by different regions, either by tradition or to appear aesthetically distinct or more suitable for the types of grapes and wines, such as in Champagne, Burgundy, Rhône, and Alsace, referred to as "Flute d'Alsace."    

Although the English began standardizing wine bottle sizes in the mid-1600s and early 1700s, the "standard" 750 ml size did not gain prominence until the early 1800s (19th century). 

During this period, the various units were historically defined by the wine gallon, which caused them to vary according to this definition until the adoption of the Queen Anne wine gallon in 1706. In the United Kingdom and its colonies, the units were redefined with the introduction of the imperial system in 1826, while the Queen Anne wine gallon was adopted as the standard US gallon in 1836. (***)

The major wine-producing and wine-importing countries at that time used barrels extensively and developed standards that differ from traditional English volumes (most still in use today). Examples include a hogshead of 300 L (66 imp gal; 79 US gal), a barrique of 220 L (48 imp gal; 58 US gal) (Bordeaux), a barrel of 225 L (49 imp gal; 59 US gal) (Australia), a barrel of 230 L (51 imp gal; 61 US gal) (Burgundy), and a puncheon of 465 L (102 imp gal; 123 US gal). (***)

Despite these differences, this barrel standardization facilitated international trade and cellar aging, contributing to the development of wine culture across Europe. Standardized bottles also allowed for easier transport, individual sale, and personal storage, revolutionizing wine consumption and appreciation.

As the unit of volume conversion was challenging to understand between countries such as the metric system in France, the Imperial Gallon in England, and the US Gallon in the US, standardizing the bottles also meant not only uniformizing their sizes and shapes but also their volume to facilitate and simplify the conversion.  

However, it proved difficult as barrel volume capacities were not uniform across the countries. Even the metric system adoption during the French Revolution (formally adopted in 1795) failed to standardize barrel sizes nationwide. 

Although coopers did not align their production with the metric system, based on their century-old expertise, they eventually successfully established two regional standards on a global scale: the Burgundian cask (228 Litre / 50.15 Imperial Gallons) and the Bordeaux barrel (225 Litre / 49.4931 Imperial Gallons), which eventually made France the international benchmark for cooperage.  

Standardizing the barrels simplified the process of standardizing the bottles and improved the understanding of the conversion, as these barrels roughly represented 50 Imperial Gallons. In the US, the standard (non-metric) wine and liquor bottle was the "fifth," meaning one-fifth of a US gallon, or 25.6 US fluid ounces (757 mL; 26.6 imp fl oz). 

Yet, the conversion was still challenging for the US, as a Burgundy barrel is 228L / 757mL = 301.18 bottles, and a Bordeaux barrel is 225L / 757mL = 297.22 bottles.   

Also, because the bottles were blown and made individually, the inconsistency of their shapes and sizes made filling, storage, and transportation challenging, until a solution was found.    

FIG. 4. The Ricketts patent three-piece mould (UK Patent 4623 - 1821) 

Image Courtesy of David Dungworth Publication: Three and a half centuries of bottle manufacture

Read the full article at http://www.researchgate.net

In 1821, a Bristol glassmaker, Henry Ricketts (****), devised an innovative three-part mold that enabled bottles to be blown to the same size and capacity every time, producing consistent, uniform, and identical bottles. This revolutionized production, energized the local industry, simplified logistics, transportation, and storage, and led to the standardization of the bottle as we know it.   

In France, it is believed that the standardization of the bottle started in Bordeaux. Their main foreign clients were the English (who also imported the wine to the US and elsewhere), and, as mentioned above, the French & English did not share the same volume measurement system, so they had to come to an agreement. 

The Imperial Gallon corresponds to 4,54609 litres, so they had to find an easier way to count. As mentioned above, a standard US bottle was a fifth or 757 ml, and the UK had already standardized bottles at around 750 ml. Therefore, the leading believed theory behind why the 750 ml bottle became the standard is that they had to find a common denominator and opted for the 750 ml bottle, which was close to a fifth of a US gallon (757 ml) and equivalent to the British standardization. 

This choice was convenient and easier to convert for the three parties, as a Bordeaux barrel holds 225 liters, equivalent to 300 bottles of 750ml (1 barrel = roughly 50 Imperial gallons = 300 bottles of 750ml). This also explains why wine was (and still is) sold in boxes of 6 or 12 bottles, since 6 x 750ml = 4.5L (roughly 1 Imperial gallon). (*****)

It is believed that's how the Bordeaux bottle became the classic standard bottle. Its cylindrical shape, with straight sides and high shoulders (between the bottle's body and the bottleneck), made it easier to store, transport, and ship worldwide. It was much more convenient, requiring less space than previously made bottles.    

LeDomduVin: Details of a Bordeaux Bottle (©Ledomduvin 2018)

Negociants' business further developed throughout the 1800s as they (the British, Dutch, and Belgians, mostly), as well as the French Negociants in Bordeaux (and Burgundy), continued to buy from the Chateaux (and domaines), further increasing the production, exportation, and promotion of Bordeaux wine.

Although selling the wine in advance of bottling and sales provided instant funding that allowed the producers to maintain the vineyards and wine-making operations, the negociants handling the aging, bottling, sales, and distribution of the wines led to growing concern among the producers about the quality of their wine. 

At that time, despite carefully choosing the négociants to whom they would sell their wine (via the courtiers) and entrusting them with their wines, the châteaux had no control over the quality of the finished product, and bottle variations were common. 

At the beginning of the 1900s, this growing concern led the top properties (who had the financial means) to start bottling at the property to gain more control over quality, labeling, packaging, and distribution.    

Until the 1920s, the châteaux sent their wine in barrels to the negociants and other wine merchants to age, bottle, store, and sell their wines. Consequently, switching to bottling, labeling, and storing the wine in cellars at the estate allowed the châteaux (and other producers) to oversee and control wine quality and production at every stage, from the vines to the bottling, as well as to personalize their marketing through their labels.  

"Bottled at the property" or "estate-bottled" ("mis en bouteille au château" ou "mis en bouteille à la propriété" in French) means that 100% of the wine must come from grapes grown on land owned or controlled by the winery. The winery and the vineyard must be located within the boundaries of the labeled viticultural area, and the wine must be entirely vinified, aged, bottled, and labeled at the property. 

Baron Philippe de Rothschild was among the early pioneers of estate-bottled wine. In 1922, at just 20 years old, he took control of his family's property, Chateau Mouton-Rothschild, a regarded 2nd growth in the 1855 Bordeaux Classification. As he aimed to transform wine production and marketing, he was regarded as an outsider and a newcomer in the traditionalist Médoc region. 

In 1924, he decided to bottle his wine at the château, a notable achievement at a time when most estates had their wines bottled by the Negociants and wine merchants they worked with. To celebrate this milestone, he commissioned a unique label designed by Jean Carlu, influenced by cubism and surrealism. 

However, this design was considered too avant-garde for the period, and he had to wait until 1945 for a shift in perception to commission another artist to design the label for this vintage. This started a tradition of having an artist design the label each year that lasted until today.

Labeling wine dates back to ancient times, likely as early as 1352 BC in Egypt, where jars discovered at King Tutankhamun’s burial site bore papyrus labels detailing the vintage, region, and winemaker. Although it resurfaced about a thousand years later with Greek and Phoenician producers in the Persian Empire, it's fascinating to note that the labeling we recognize today is a relatively modern concept. In the 17th century, handmade labels were simply tied to bottles with strings. The true shift in labeling began in the 1780s in Germany with the advent of the lithograph, which enabled the creation of the first paper label, leading to the widespread adoption of the practice by wine merchants during the 1800s.

However, it was not until after 1924, led by Baron Philippe de Rothschild's example, that bottling and labelling at the estate gradually became common practice, to become firmly established practice right after WWII, in 1945. 

Yet, some foreign Negociants continued to buy barrels to age, bottle, label, store, and sell the wines of some of the most prestigious estates until the late 1970s / early 1980s. This explains the reason why it is not uncommon to find drastically different labels from the originals, especially the older vintages from the 1940s to the 1980s, like the one posted by Fabien.  

Ledomduvin - Fabien Pizzinat picture of a rather peculiar label of Chateau l'Angélus 1970 

bottled by negociant Philippe Serrande & Co. 

After this rather long yet really interesting historical aparte, let's go back to Fabien's post, and the original subject of this post: Fake and counterfeit wines - Investigation series: Labels, Chateau L’ L'Angélus 1970 and the "L' " of Angélus and other wine labels

As mentioned at the beginning of this post, this is a rather peculiar label for Chateau L'Angélus 1970. Personally, it is the first time in my 27-year career in the wine business and trade that I have seen such a label of Angélus. I do not know the Negociant either. Yet, nothing is wrong with that; this label is different, as it is supposed to be a "Négociant label".

The various comments to his posts were very interesting and some very pertinent, yet nobody had a clear answer to whether this label was fake or not, or who this negociant, "Philippe Serrande & Co," was. 

Fabien Pizzinat even said that he wrote to Chateau Angélus and received the following answer from Jean-Bernard Grenié, the cousin of Hubert de Boüard de Laforest (Angélus owner), who joined the company business in 1987, and knows Chateau Angélus as well as Hubert, saying: 

"Il s’agit d’une mise négoce. Je suis extrêmement surpris de ce millésime, car normalement à Saint Emilion la mise en bouteille au château est obligatoire depuis 1970. Je n’ai jamais entendu parlé de ce négociant. Donc prudence, nous n’avons aucune certitude sur ce qu’il y a dans la bouteille. En tous cas, ce vin n’a certainement rien à voir avec un Angélus d’aujourd’hui." - Jean-Bernard Grenié

Which can be translated by 

"This has been bottled by a négociant. I am extremely surprised of this vintage, because normally in Saint-Emilion the bottling at the Chateau is mandatory since 1970. I have never heard of this merchant. So be careful, we have no certainty about what's in the bottle. In any case, this wine certainly has nothing to do with an Angélus of today." -Jean-Bernard Grenié 

My first reaction was that if Jean-Bernard Grenié says that he is surprised (as in the 70s, Chateau Angélus wines were bottled at the Chateau) and that he never heard about this wine merchant, then what else to add? These are probably fake bottles and the case is closed. 

Yet, (and you know me by now), as a Wine Quality Control Director responsible for the wine inspection and authentication for the company I work for, I could not resist but to do my little investigation. 

After all, this is part of what I do for a living and I'm curious by nature, so why not? Moreover, when in doubt, I need to find answers (and this post will complement the other posts that I already wrote on fake and counterfeit wines and bottles that you can read here and here and here, etc...).

Time to investigate © LeDomduVin 2018

Time to investigate again.... and determine if these bottles of Angélus 1970 with a weird label are fake or counterfeit bottles or if there is a slight chance that they might be real...

A. The Label

So, let's have a closer look at this rather strange looking label above and let's compare it to the original label of Chateau L'Angélus 1970 below.

Chateau L’Angélus 1970 Original Label © LeDomduVin 2018

As you can see there is a huge difference between the 2 labels (yet, as it supposed to be a Négociant label, anything is possible.... but if it is, then this particular Négociant really did a sloppy job on his own label) 

Let's enumerate all these differences: 

1. The label design is totally different from the original Chateau L’Angélus label (but why not? Negociant's labels are often far from the original Chateau ones....) 

2. The color is white instead of the regular yellow (there again, not a first for a Negociant's label)

3. The color of the letters is mono-color, while the letters of the words on the original label are written with multiple colors 

4. The font of the letters is also drastically different

5. The "L' " is not in majuscule, like on the original label, but in minuscule (now, in my opinion, that's a detail of a certain importance... omitted by the Négociant)

6. The drawing looks like a port with some boats near the pier... Could it be the "Quai des Chartrons" in Bordeaux? ...the pier along the Garonne river where Irish, English and Dutch wine merchants and négociants established their offices and warehouses as early as over four centuries ago... it does look like it, doesn't it? 

Drawing - Details of Fabien Pizzinat's picture of the rather peculiar bottles
of Chateau l'Angelus he just acquired (1/2) 

  

.....while on the original label the drawing represents respectively the arches of the collegiate cloister of Saint-Emilion..... (easily recognizable by its arches and double pillars like in the picture below)

Collegiate cloister of Saint-Emilion © LeDomduVin 2013

...and the bell tower ("Le Clocher" in French) of Saint-Emilion's church further in the background 

Saint-Emilion Church's Bell Tower (Le Clocher) © LeDomduVin 2013

7. The logo with a chateau above a river surmounted by a "wolf" (?) or a "lion" (?) and a crown above it has nothing to do with Chateau L’Angélus (yet, once again, it could just be a design by the Negociant for its own label).   

Logo - Details of Fabien Pizzinat's picture of the rather peculiar bottles
of Chateau l'Angelus he just acquired (2/2) 

... even this old picture of Chateau L'Angélus dating from the 1930s (below), courtesy of Wikipedia, shows that the logo of Chateau L'Angélus has always been a carillon bell... not some kind of "wolf" or "lion" atop of a Chateau with some kind of shape in the middle that could represent a bell.... (it does look like a wolf, doesn't it?) (so, even if it is a Négociant label, why designing a label so far from the original?...)

Old picture of Chateau L'Angélus dating from the 1930s, courtesy of Wikipedia

8. The Appellation is "Saint-Emilion", which is fine, yet, the "Grand Cru Classé" classification is not mentioned on this Negociant's label, which is really surprising knowing that Chateau L'Angélus was classified as "Grand Cru Classé" in the classification of the wines of Saint-Emilion in 1955 and in 1969 (*), and therefore, even if it is "supposedly" a Négociant label (which I have a really hard time to believe it is), it should mention "Grand Cru Classé", but it does not.....  (...a major detail omitted by mistake by the Negociant? again?)

(*) See the list of the 1955 Classification of the wines of Saint-Emilion here and 1969 here

9. The name of the owner, which appear on the original label (pride of the "de Boüard de Laforest" family, owner of this land and Chateau for the past 8 generations since 1782) does not appear on the label. Ok, I admit that the owner's name does not necessarily appear on Negociant's labels (as you will realize when looking at some of the Negociant's label examples below). Yet, I find it weird, because even if it was bottled by a négociant, it happened, (and more specifically in this kind of case scenario, with such an illustrious and renown family name in Saint-Emilion), that, sometimes, the name of the owner appeared on the labels of the bottles bottled by Négociants (of course, it depends on the agreement between the Chateaux owner and the Négociant, but for Angélus and the "de Boüard de Laforest" family, I doubt they will have authorized a Négociant label not mentioning their name... but maybe, who knows...?)

As previously mentioned, prior to 1967 (when bottling at the chateau became officially mandatory in Bordeaux), some négociants / wine merchants were still buying barrels from the Chateaux, aging, bottling and labeling the wines themselves in their warehouses in Bordeaux (or even elsewhere like UK, Belgium, Holland, etc...), and we can distinguish 2 types of Négociant's label.


1. The additional label: 

Instead of using their own label, some Négociants kept the original label from the Chateau and just added their name either directly on the original label or on an additional label (generally just below the original label). Here are 2 examples of an additional label below the main original label.

Like this label of Chateau Latour 1945 aged and bottled by Louis Eschenauer (Bordeaux) a Negociant house established in 1821.

Chateau Latour 1945 aged and bottled by Louis Eschenauer (Bordeaux) © LeDomduVin 2016

Or like for this Chateau Mouton Rothschild 1947 with the additional label of "Sichel & Co." a family owned Bordeaux Négociant house established in 1883, and still in activity after six generations of the Sichel family succeeding to one another at the company’s helm.

Chateau Mouton Rothschild 1947
with the additional label of "Sichel & Co." © LeDomduVin2018

2. The Négociant own label

On the other side, instead of keeping the original label, some Négociants designed their own label, some drastically different than the original (as it is "supposedly" the case for this Angélus 1970) and the name of the owner or other details from the original label did not necessarily appear on the Negociant's label (which, once again, could be the case for this specific label of Angélus 1970, you never know...).

Here are 3 examples of Negociant's Label:

This label of Chateau L'Angélus 1966 aged and bottled by Maison A. de Luze & Fils, a Bordeaux based Negociant house, founded by Baron Alfred de Luze in 1820, specializing in the maturing of great Bordeaux wines.

Chateau L'Angelus 1966 aged and bottled by A. de Luze (Bordeaux)

Or this label of Chateau Pedesclaux 1957 aged and bottled by Grafé Lecocq (Belgium), a Belgium Négociant house established in 1879 by Henri Grafé and his wife Léontine Lecocq, specialized in aging themselves wines bought in bulk from French estate in Bordeaux (predominantly) but also from other regions.

Chateau Pedesclaux 1967 aged and bottled by Grafé Lecocq (Namur, Belgium) © LeDomduVin 2018

Or even this rare label of Chateau Petrus 1947 aged and bottled by J. Vandermeulen-Decanniere (Ostende, Belgium), a Négociant house that was really active for roughly about 60 years between the late 1890s to 1955, and specialized in buying barrels directly at the property, having access to the barrel cellars of some of the best Bordeaux-Châteaux and Burgundy domains, then shipping these barrels to Ostende to let the wines mature in their warehouse, sometimes for even longer than they will have been aged at the Chateaux (3-5 years), prior bottling and labeling the wines with their own labels.

Chateau Petrus 1947 aged and bottled by J. Vandermeulen-Decanniere (Ostende, Belgium) © LeDomduVin 2018

So, as you can see from these examples above, we could say that Fabien Pizzinat's bottles might be real after all, as the labels on his bottles could simply be the real labels from a Négociant called Philippe Serrande & Cie.

Yet, looking at this 1970 Angélus label again, it seems to me that they are too many awkward details to believe that these bottles are real. And if they are, the negociant who bottled and labeled them, supposedly called "Philippe Serrande & Cie." really did a poor job with this label. The work of an amateur I should say with no respect for the brand or the name of the owner (if this label is real that is).     

Historically speaking, although, bottling at the Chateau was pioneered by some highly regarded producers and Chateaux owners as early as the 1920s, (like Baron Philippe de Rothschild who decided in 1924 that all the wines of Chateau Mouton Rothschild should be bottled and labeled at the chateau and even asked Jean Carlu to design the label for this specific vintage)...

Château Mouton Rothschild 1924 - Jean Carlu label © LeDomduVin 2018

...it only became mandatory for Bordeaux Chateaux to bottle their wine at the Chateau in 1967. Yet, it is interesting to know, as a fact, that up until the mid-70s (and even late 70s, early 80s), many Chateaux in Bordeaux did not have the mean, the will, the place or the space to do the bottling, corking, and labeling at the Chateau (even nowadays some Chateaux and small producers still don't). 

Most of them were (and some still are) doing it by hand, one bottle after another, filling up the bottles and corking each bottle with a wine bottle corker machine (more modern this day than the one below, fortunately for them) (my grandfather used one exactly the same as the one in this picture).

French Antique Wine Corker "La Meilleur",
Paris, early 20th century - photo courtesy of www.1stdibs.com  

Once bottled and corked, the bottles were usually stacked together on piles, shelves or cages until labeling took place (often manually here as well), usually a few weeks to a few months later (depending on orders and sales) prior to being put into carton box and/or original wooden cases and shipped away. 

Hand bottling and labeling were both time-consuming and tedious, and not all Chateaux could afford to have a bottling belt at the Chateau or the space to put it. Therefore, when not doing it by hand, they hired companies which own bottling belt mounted on the trailer of a truck, passing by, Chateau after Chateau, to bottle and/or cork (and even sometimes label) the bottles.

Bottling Belt © LeDomduVin 2013

Anyhow, let's go back to these Angélus 1970 labels..... now that we closely looked at all these details, the question remains: 

Could these bottles of Angélus 1970 be real or not?  

As the label could be a Négociant's label, it is very possible that they could be real, and I will give them the benefice of the doubt for lack of info and data on this particular Négociant, but deep inside,  I'm still very suspicious looking at these labels again...

B. The Négociant

So, to further investigate, let's see what we can find about this so-called Négociant "Philippe Serrande & Cie". 

When googling "Philippe Serrande" nothing really interesting comes up except a Fine Jeweller in Canada. 

When googling "Philippe Serrande Wine" Vivino shows 2 results here, and for "Philippe Serrande & Cie", or even "Philippe Serrande & Cie wine" the pictures are more interesting showing various examples of well-known Bordeaux wines in old vintages ranging from the 50s to the 80s. 

Diverse Philippe Serrande & Cie Labels found on Google  - Collage by LeDomduVin 2016

So, it seems that "Philippe Serrande & Cie." might have really existed and even was a Bordeaux based Négociant after all... yet, (as far as I could search and after asking the question to a few people), no historical data or any other info can be found on this Negociant House... 

And strangely enough, the first few websites offering these wines by Philippe Serrande & Cie are Chinese online auctions (like "ARTFOX" here and "en.51BidLive" here).... literally nothing in France... there is also an auction house called "DognyAuction" here (apparently, in Switzerland.... never heard of it in my life)...

I'm not saying anything, but don't you find it strange that

• No data or info can be found about this specific Négociant
• No availability whatsoever of these bottles on the French, UK or even HK Markets (which are nowadays the hubs of older vintages wines) 
• Only availability through unknown online auction houses (moreover Chinese ones...?!?)
• Without even talking about the few awkward details on the labels
• And no records kept by the Chateau (as Jean-Bernard Grenié is not even aware this particular Negociant's name) 

It really does not comfort me in the idea that these bottles could be real... 

Moreover, I'm cautious and suspicious by nature when it comes to wine... but that's normal for a Wine Quality Control Director like me..... so I looked a bit closer at some other strange looking ("supposedly") Négotiant's labels found on the internet, more especially this following one.... look at it closely.... (found on and courtesy of the Dogny Auction website)

Chateau l'Angélus 1964 - photo courtesy of www.dognyauction.ch

Now that's very interesting because, although it is "Chateau l'Angélus" at Pomerol, (the counterpart of the one at Saint-Emilion and with a "l" in minuscule rather than the "L" in majuscule for the Saint-Emilion one....), this label is also very different from the original label of  Chateau l'Angélus Pomerol 1964 below (courtesy of www.cellartracker.com)... and strangely enough (or...but of course!!! should I say...) it is part of the wines labeled and shipped in bulk by ("expédié en cercles par..." ) Philippe Serrande & Cie. (again....  sigh)

"Expédié en cercles" is an old French expression which literally means "sent/shipped in bulk/in barrels" (still used by some people in the wine trade, like in Switzerland for example).

"En cercles" literally meaning "within circles" referring to the metallic rings of the barrels (maintaining the staves).

Isn't it strange? Or is it just me....

Chateau l'Angélus 1964 - photo courtesy of www.cellartracker.com 

I mean, look at both labels closely, they have nothing to do with one another.. "because it is a Negociant's label" I hear you say... well, maybe...  (Chateau l'Angelus at Pomerol is also a strange story... but this could be the subject of another post in the near future maybe....)

However, my point is that it seems that all the labels of the wines bottled, labeled and/or wine shipped in bulk ("Expédié en cercles") by Philippe Serrande & Cie are totally different from the original labels (which is not surprising for a Negociant's label.... but still). And therefore, it is really difficult for me to define whether these rather peculiar labels are real or not, without more info on this Négociant (like at which period he used to exist and was in business?). 

But it still seems fishy to me, because it seems that all these wines are mainly sold via and/or through unknown auction houses and that the only vintages that can be found are all between the 1950s and the 80s, meaning that they would be very easy to fake and counterfeit knowing all the uncertainty surrounding this rather unknown Négociant. Moreover, it makes these labels suspicious and therefore particularly prone to falsification (easy to create a fake label and call it a Negociant's label when no info or data can be retrieved or found on the Negociant who supposedly labeled it.... more especially for vintages older than the 60s).     

C. Conclusion

I will stop my investigation here for time constraint reasons and more especially for lack of information and historical facts about this Négociant and the type of business he was conducting and when. 

All I can say is that back in 1970, Chateau L'Angélus at Saint-Emilion produced, bottled and labeled all of its wines with the renown and easily recognizable yellow label that everybody knows. 

Whether some wines of Chateau L'Angelus were sold in bulk/barrels to this specific Négociant back in the 70s and whether he made is own specific label is not necessarily verifiable either, as even Jean-Bernard Grenié, the cousin of Hubert de Boüard de Laforest (Angélus owner), who joined the company business in 1987, and knows Chateau Angélus as well as Hubert, said that he never heard of this Négociant (and although he is in a good position to know these types of details, it does not mean that it did not happen or that this Négociant did not exist....but it is still weird to me that Jean-Bernard does not know Philippe Serrande &Cie, at least by name....) ...and even more surprising, is the fact that if some 1970 Angélus wine was sold in bulk/barrels or even in bottles to this particular Négociant, the Chateau would have kept records of it in a book and consequently would have been aware of these bottles existing on the market... (but they do not seem to be aware..).     

Hence, my guts are telling me that there is something fishy with these labels for all the reasons cited above... 

So, either, Philippe Serrande & Cie. is the spawn of a vile crook creating fake bottles to be sold by small batches and/or lots on unknown online Auction Houses in Switzerland and China (let's say, Asia,)... or he really existed, but did a sloppy job for the labels he created for all of the illustrious wines he was reselling with no regards nor respect for the reputation of the Chateaux and their respective owners. But then again I'm convinced he did not exist as no data can be found or retrieved and apparently no record either regarding the sales transaction from Chateau L'Angélus to this specific Négociant either.


Verdict: Fake... until someone proves me wrong and gives me proofs and facts that will "eventually" change my mind
         

The market is still flooded with fakes and counterfeits bottles of Bordeaux and Burgundy wines, and it is up to the responsibility of people like me, dealing daily with wine inspection and authentication, to expose and denounce them, try to investigate to uncover the culprit if possible, and if not, to at least point the finger at the imitations and free the markets from this abominations. 

The fight against fake and counterfeits wines continues.....

FYI: for those of you who might still wonder what is the difference between a fake and a counterfeit bottle of wine:

• Fake wine bottle/label = a wine and/or a label that is not genuine; a forgery or sham, created to look alike or have similarities with other known wines from the same regions to deceive people into a scam (like the example above, which is potentially a fake wine, and more especially these 2 examples below which are totally fake - seen in China)

Fake DRC Romanee Conti White 

DRC label imitation Chateau Lacaunette  Le Prince du Roi - Fake wine © LeDomduVin 2016

Pacurs instead of Petrus - Fake Wine

• Counterfeit wine bottle/label = made as an exact imitation of a valuable bottle of wine with the intention to deceive or defraud someone (like the bottles and labels of Rudy Kurniawan below for example)

Rudy Kurniawan fake labels

Ah, and before I forget.... for the "L" of Chateau L'Angélus, it has always been on the label in majuscule (and not in minuscule like on this label of 1970 from Philippe Serrande) and has been removed back in 1990, as per Hubert de Boüard de Laforest (Angélus owner), to appear first on the alphabetical order listing of wines (wine reviews, wine critics, magazines, wine guides, wine tasting lists, etc....), purely by marketing strategy in fact, and it works...  

Once again, if anyone has any info or data on this Négociant, please send them to me. Until then, I will remain convinced that there is something fishy about these bottles... and seeing them mostly being available and/or sold on rather unknown auctions online does not make me feel that they are genuine either.... but you never know... prove me wrong if you can...

That's all folks for today... 

Hope you enjoyed this post... and if yes, stay tuned for more wine posts like this one (about real wine too sometimes :-)

If you are interested to read more about fake and counterfeit bottles, you can read previous posts I wrote on that subject here and here and here, etc...).

Cheers! Santé!

Dominique Noel a.k.a LeDomduVin 

©LeDomduVin 2018

 

#angelus #chateauangelus #bordeaux #china #counterfeitwines #counterfeit #fakewines #fake #france #fraudulentwines # fraudulent #grandcruclasse #imitations #saintemilion  #theloflangelus #vin #wine #vino #wein #ledomduvin #lesphotosadom @chateauangelus @ledomduvin
 

(*) Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquitaine

(**) Fabien Pizzinat seems to work in close relation with a wine boutique store located in Switzerland, called "Yourwine Grands Vins et Vieux Millésimes"

(***) Sourced and edited for the purpose of this post from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_wine_cask_units

(****) Source https://www.artwarefineart.com/gallery/portrait-henry-ricketts-circa-1783%E2%80%931859-bristol-glass-maker-young-child

(*****) Source: Jean Marc Bahans ; Jean-Robert Pitte : La bouteille de vin, histoire d’une revolution, Tallandier 2013

Unless stated otherwise, all rights reserved ©LeDomduVin 2018, on all the contents above including, but not limited to, photos, pictures, drawings, illustrations, collages, visuals, maps, memes, posts, texts, writings, quotes, notes, tasting notes, descriptions, wine descriptions, definitions, recipes, graphs, tables, and even music and video (when and where applicable).