French police have broken up a gang that allegedly manufactured hundreds of thousands of bottles of fake Bordeaux wine in an elaborate counterfeiting operation, prosecutors said on Friday.
Officials investigating drug trafficking in the south-west region of France discovered printing machines used to make the labels for the bottles last September, sparking a wider criminal investigation.
It led to the arrest of around 20 people during an operation in seven different areas of France on Monday, three of whom were charged with organized fraud, counterfeiting and money laundering.
The prime suspect is a winemaker and broker in the Medoc region, near Bordeaux, who bought inferior wine from other areas, including Spain, and then bottled it as more expensive local produce, Bordeaux prosecutors said in a statement.
“Large orders” had been placed for the wine “intended for supermarkets and abroad,” it said.
Bottling operations would be carried out at night to avoid detection, it said.
“If the allegations are proven, we hope the culprits will be severely punished because these practices undermine the image of Bordeaux wines and those who work properly and respect the rules,” the local wine industry association told AFP.
French winemakers, customs and police are constantly on the lookout for scammers claiming budget plonk as top vintages.
In 2016, police arrested a Bordeaux winemaker who was mixing low-quality wine with high-quality Saint-Emilions, Lalande-de-Pomerols and Listrac-Medocs to sell to major supermarkets under prestigious brands.
Multi-domain owner Francois-Marie Marret has been jailed and fined €8 million after he was caught bringing in cheap wine at night.
In 2010, 12 French winemakers and merchants were convicted of selling millions of bottles of counterfeit Pinot Noir to US company E&J Gallo.
Earlier in 2006, legendary Beaujolais winemaker Georges Duboeuf was fined more than €30,000 for blending grapes from different vineyards to disguise the poor quality of certain prized vintages.
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