Outcry as winemakers ordered to quit France

BANYULS-SUR-MER, France - Wine lovers have risen up in revolt after a Japanese couple who make "outstanding" wine were threatened with deportation.

More than 42,000 have already signed a petition protesting the "crazy, moronic and shameful decision", with wine and restaurant critics now joining the outcry.

Rie and Hirofumi Shoji's "exceptional" red wine, Pedres Blanques (White Rocks), made from grenache grapes near Banyuls-sur-Mer in the southern French Catalan region of Roussillon, became an instant hit after their first harvest last year.