Wine Scandal in France – Fake Pinot Noir Wines sold on US Market

The US Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), a division of the US Treasury Department (tax authority) confirmed that Constellation Brands had imported a delivery of cheap wines produced from Syrah and merlot grape varieties from France. “Due to the French court documents, we will determine an appropriate course of action and we will conduct precise investigations,” Arthur Resnick, TTB spokesman, told the press.

The TTB has not yet been involved in the investigation because French authorities have only carried out investigations in their own country and did not present formal charges to US authorities. The TTB investigations, which are starting in the US now, do not only involve Constellation Brands, but also E&J Gallo, another big US- import company that also imported fake Pinot Noir wines.

US authorities as well as the judges assume that both companies were aware of the fraud. Confronted with these allegations, the companies responded the following: Sheryl Gossin, a spokeswoman for Constellation Brands, explained that the company could not confirm that it had bought fake wines and said it was checking its bookkeeping at the moment. Sheryl Gossin added that they imported the 2008 Pinot Noir in 2009, but the court in France referred to older vintages in the trial. E&J Gallo said that they were not aware of the fraud and that they imported wines from France as Pinot Noir in the US.

One of the French trading companies, which was fined 180.000 Euros on Wednesday, sold a “considerable amount” of fake Pinot Noir wines to Constellation Brands and E&J Gallo. E&J Gallo said that it had bought less than 20 percent of the “falsely labeled” Pinot Noir from this merchant and then immediately stopped selling any of this wine known under the “Red Bicyclette” Pinot Noir label.

Pinot Noir wines are very popular in the US, ever since the film “Sideways”, which became very popular in US-cinemas in 2004. The movie is about two friends who go on a wine-tasting trip of self-discovery in California. Volume sales of Pinot Noir wines continuously increased and the market could not get of them. It is possible that the continuous demand has aroused interests among French producers, merchants as well as US importers.

French judges handed out prison sentences and fines to the 12 accused people on Wednesday for selling fake Pinot Noir wines, totaling 18 million bottles (135.334 hectoliters) of faked Pinot Noir, which is much more than the winegrowing areas in the Languedoc-Rousillon region can provide. Those convicted included executives from wine estates, cooperatives, a broker, wine merchant Ducasse and the Sieur d'Arques group.

The judge told a completely crowded courtroom that Ducasse made seven million Euros in profits from the scam between 2006 and 2008, siphoning off some 3.7 million Euros and Sieur d’Arques earned 1.3 million Euros. After the verdicts, Jean- Marie Bourland, a lawyer for Sieur d’Arques, did not rule out an appeal. “So far, not a single US- consumer complained,” he explained.

The fines imposed by the court ranged from 1,500 to 180,000 Euros, in addition to prison sentences and probations. The judge ended the trial with the following words: “The scale of the fraud causes severe damage for the wines of the Languedoc-Roussillon region – particularly among US consumers – who pose an important market for Pinot Noir.”

Fraud and swindle are not new to the international wine industry. In 2008, Italian authorities uncovered a scandal concerning Brunello wines, where renowned Italian wine estates were involved. In 2007, French producers in the Beaujolais region have been convicted for dosing their wines with sugar, while in 2005, South African producers were found guilty for producing Sauvignon Blanc wines with fake aromas. An in 1985, Austrian producers “spiced up” their wines with substances also found in frost protection agents. (afp-aw.yoopress/ translator em)