Paris cafes have been caught cheating tourists with cheap wine – here’s how to avoid it happening to you

If even a wine expert like me can (almost) be duped, then so, too, can you, warns Rosamund Hall – unless you know exactly what to look out for...

Picture the scene: you’re on holiday, revelling in the joy of escaping (most of) the mundane elements of your life. Sitting in the bar of your hotel, you decide to splash out and order a glass of champagne – a real treat. The flute arrives, you take a sip, and something just isn’t right... there’s a niggling voice telling you it’s not champagne. What do you do?

Well, if you’re me (because, well, this did happen to me), you feel a bit flustered at the thought of having to say something. You doubt yourself, question every aspect of your own tasting ability despite the fact you’ve been blind-tasting for years, and then finally say something – apologising as you do so. People-pleaser? Moi?

Thankfully, the wine in question wasn’t champagne (I mean, I knew it all along), and what arrived to replace it – without question, I hasten to add – most definitely was the real deal.

But this isn’t an easy situation for most people. Despite the rising rouge in my cheeks in the hotel bar that evening, I do have the confidence to know if the wine I’m being served is the wine I’ve ordered. Most people don’t.

And this is just one of the reasons why I’ve been fuming all week at the news that some bars in Paris have been found to be doing the dodgy – pouring a cheaper wine when a more expensive one’s been ordered.

An undercover investigation published by Le Parisien found that a number of venues across the capital were guilty of wine fraud, with examples such as a chablis (a premium, expensive white wine from Burgundy), sold for €9 (£7.70), being replaced with a more generic and cheaper sauvignon blanc being sold for €5 (£4.25) – whilst the customer was charged the higher amount.

Marina Giuberti, one of the undercover sommeliers involved in the investigation, said: “It’s a pity for the customer and for the image of the wine appellation, for the winemaker, and for the restaurant owners who do a good job.”

I think I might have been a bit more emphatic in my choice of words than Giuberti, but she’s absolutely right – this does a total disservice to every link in the chain of wine production, not to mention giving a boost to the stereotypes about how tourists are treated in Paris, and the disdain the Parisiennes feel towards them. Come on, Paris! I know you’re better than this.

As a customer, it’s always worth remembering that you have some inalienable rights when it comes to ordering and drinking wine. The waiter or sommelier might be positioned as the all-knowing seer, but the reality is that isn’t the case; they’re not demigods.

I urge you to trust yourself. You might not have drunk as much wine as them, but who cares? There’s a strong likelihood that you have a good idea of what you do and don’t like the taste of.

Did you know that you can always ask to see the wine being poured in front of you? It’s actually the law in France, and no one has ever questioned me when I’ve asked for it to happen in the UK, either. Of course, there’s nothing that’s going to help you if they’re “re-potting” the wine (this means pouring a cheaper wine into a more expensive bottle), but even in that situation, you can say, “I’m sorry, this doesn’t taste right to me – do you mind opening another bottle?”

And then there’s the joy of trying before you buy. Surely this is the great perk of ordering wines by the glass instead of going in head-first with a whole bottle? Any half-decent establishment will be happy to do this. When I owned a wine bar in another lifetime, we served a bar full of wines by the glass, and honestly, I was delighted when people wanted to taste them.

It gave me a beautiful opportunity to talk about the wines and find out what styles they enjoyed, and nothing gave me greater pleasure than finding a customer’s perfect pour. Good bars and restaurants will be pleased to give you a taster, and if not? Grab your coat and head somewhere that is.

I hope that it doesn’t taint your love for Paris. It didn’t for me. Nowhere in the world does the “bar a vin” better. For every dodgy place, there’s a multitude of outstanding wine bars and bistros run by incredibly passionate, brilliant and kind staff who want to give drinkers and diners the best possible experience. Just let me know if you’d like me to share my little black book on the City of Light (and her great bars) with you one day...

Rosamund Hall (DipWSET) is The Independent’s wine columnist and is a freelance writer and presenter. She specialises in wine and spirits as well as travel and lifestyle