Australian wine group, BRL Hardy,has been fined A$97,000 (US$63,300) for inadvertently polluting the environment with wine effluent.

The company pleaded guilty to four charges each of which carried a maximum A$120,000 (US$78,400) fine.

The pollution, in 2000 and 2001, was in the company’s home state of South Australia where Environment Court Judge Andrew Wilson said it had remedied the problem caused by the discharge of more than 2,000 kilolitres of waste water and “done a great deal to reinstate itself as a leader in the field of environment protection.”

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