French Producers Found Guilty Of Selling Fake Pinot Noir Wine To US Supplier(18million bottles)

RTTNews ^ | 02/18/10

[TigerLikesRooster]

French Producers Found Guilty Of Selling Fake Pinot Noir Wine To US Supplier

22 hours ago

(RTTNews) - A court in France on Wednesday found a group of 12 French wine producers and traders guilty of selling millions of bottles of fake Pinot Noir wine to U.S. wine-industry giant E. & J. Gallo Winery.

The judge in Carcassonne, south-west France, ruled that the producers and traders involved in the case had severely damaged the reputation of the Langedoc region, and handed out suspended jail terms and hefty fines to the defendants.

"The scale of the fraud caused severe damage for the wines of the Languedoc for which the United States is an important outlet," the judge said while delivering the verdict.

Noting that the defendants had jointly made over seven million euros in profits from the scam, the judge imposed fines ranging from 1,500 euros ($2,050) to 180,000 euros ($247,050) on the accused, with wine supplier Sieur d'Arques receiving the heftiest penalty.

The group of French winemakers and traders were accused of selling some 18 million bottles of wine made from much cheaper and inferior grape varieties to E. & J. Gallo Winery after falsely labeling the bottles as Pinot Noir wine.

[pray4liberty]

I don’t think it’s a good idea to cheat the Gallo family.

[Tijeras_Slim]

Well Gallo has been selling fake wine for decades.

[RanGreHad]

Is that where “Two-Buck Chuck” comes from?”

[traditional1]

LOL

Those "conoiseurs" who bought and drank the vino, impressing everyone with their knowledge and "sophisticated palates", now have been exposed as partakers of 2-buck Chuck!

[LiberConservative]

Gallow a victim of fake wine. Oh, the irony.

[afraidfortherepublic]

Gallo? How could they tell it was fake? Gallo and Petri used to be the brown bag covered bottles of choice amongst the “winos” in the Valley when I was growing up.

[dennisw]

I’m kind of surprised that the big shot wine aficionados could not tell immediately they were drinking a faux Pinot Noir

[ml/nj]

The schmucks at E&JG don't know anything about real wine. People who are themselves thieves are the easiest to scam.

ML/NJ

[Viking2002]

Hey, the wine I'm drinking just came out of a box, and by God, I can tell you with all sincerity that October was a good month.

[pray4liberty]

Well Gallo has been selling fake wine for decades.

Heh... karma. Their brandy is good in cakes though.

[9YearLurker]

Made millions, got caught, and the fines ranged from $2K to $250K? Sounds like the risk was worth it.

[Gasshog]

a group of 12 French wine producers Noting that the defendants had jointly made over seven million euros in profits from the scam, the judge imposed fines ranging from 1,500 euros ($2,050) to 180,000 euros ($247,050) on the accused

If ALL 12 had been fined 180,000 thats only 2,160,000 euros? So what did they pay this judge to let them pocket the rest?

[PilotDave]

Can you imagine the “viola” moment? “hey, this crappy wine tastes even crappier than it should!!”

[Mobties]

I’m NOT drinking any f’ing Merlot!

Ooooops

[GeronL]

lol

18 million bottles and nobody noticed.

[Oatka]

A court in France on Wednesday found a group of 12 French wine producers and traders . . . handed out suspended jail terms and hefty fines to the defendants.
and
Noting that the defendants had jointly made over seven million euros in profits from the scam, the judge imposed fines ranging from 1,500 euros ($2,050) to 180,000 euros ($247,050) on the accused . . .

Hefty fines? They raked in seven million and paid out, what, 2-3 million? Crime DOES pay - at least in the wine business.

Then again, it could be worse than a low grade wine. The old joke about two GIs in WWII France. One of 'em buys a bottle of wine, which tastes terrible. "I have a buddy in the chemical corps who can test this stuff." he says and sends the bottle off.

A few days later he gets a note from his buddy, "Your horse has kidney trouble."

[Beowulf9]

Heh. Who drinks Pinot Noir? I’ve had enough ‘noir’ these days to last me a lifetime.

Cabernet!

[csvset]

Wasn’t this an episode on the Simpsons a few years ago?

[Revolting cat!]

Can you imagine the “viola” moment?

I indeed can!