12 convicted for fake wine scam

TWELVE wine producers and dealers in the Languedoc have been convicted for selling more than 18 million bottles of fake Pinot Noir to the US.

The scam, which judges believe netted about €7m, went unnoticed for almost three years before it was uncovered by French customs officials in March 2008.

The central criminal court in Carcassonne heard that the group had passed off 135,334 hectolitres of local Merlot and Syrah as Pinot Noir, which typically fetches twice the price.

The buyer, US wine giant E&J Gallo, did not register as a claimant in the case and is deciding what action, if any, it will take.

International wine congolmerate Sieur d'Arques, which negotiated the sale to Gallo, was hit with a €180,000 fine.

According to La Dépêche, the managing director of wine merchant Ducasse, Claude Courset, was named in court as the "kingpin" in the operation and handed a six-month suspended prison sentence and a €45,000 fine.

Producer Alain Maurel - whose grapes were used in the scam - and Hérault dealer Pascal Vailhere received three-month suspended prison terms and fined €30,000 each.

Others involved in the fraud were either handed one-month suspended sentences or fined between €1,000 and €40,000.

The Pays d'Oc wine producers' union will receive €5,000 in damages from each of the convicted parties.

The Confédération Paysanne farmers' union, which also signed up as a civil claimant in the case, was awarded a token €1 in damages.