FRANCE: Ten arrested in major Burgundy wine fraud scandal
By Chris Brook-Carter | 2 January 2001
Ten people are under investigation in the French region of Burgundy for a wine-fraud scam that may involve tens of thousands of bottles of wine, much of which could have been sold abroad.
According to press reports, the ten people, which include wine merchants, wholesalers and the managing director of a prominent bottling company, have been charged with fraud. They are suspected of mixing expensive wine with low-grade and inferior wines, which were then packaged as high quality products and sold.
The scam revolved around the town of Beaune and wines such as Beaune premier cru, Pommard premier cru and Nuits-Saint-Georges.
One part of the operation is thought to have taken cheap generic wine destined for a vinegar factory and mixed it with standard wine to boost colour and alcohol content. The wine was then re-bottled with fake labels and passed off as a top end product.
Hubert Camus, vice president of the Burgundy Wine Board said: "Our fathers and grandfathers have laboured since the '30s to bring Burgundy wines the renown they enjoy today. This destroys their efforts."
He described the merchants involved as "sizable players" while "Burgundy in its entirety risks being affected by their actions".
View next/previous articles
Currently reading -
AUSTRALIA: Lion Nathan scoops Melbourne Cup sponsorship in $30m deal
Currently reading -
BRAZIL: Investigation underway into alleged industrial espionage by Coca-Cola bottlers
Currently reading -
FRANCE: Ten arrested in major Burgundy wine fraud scandal
2 Jan 2001 -
There are currently 2 comments on this article
Our company ( Maison André GOICHOT) has been implicated in affair of adulteration of Burgundy Wines.
Acknowledging the right to answer this charge, our company wants to make the following points clear:
The quality and origin of the wines of André GOICHOT, merchant-éleveur in Beaune and Merceuil for more than fifty years have never been questioned by justice.
Our company has made investments in high performance bottling and packing equipment. To make these new installations profitable, our company has carried out bottling and packaging services for other wine merchants, and for the wines belonging to these merchants, an activity which represents less than 2% of our annual turnover.
It is in this respect and solely for this reason, that the name of our company has been cited in the present investigations.
We place our complete confidence in the justicial procedure for the outcome of this affair.
sikoi said at 12:12 pm, January 8, 2001
Reply to this comment