Bordeaux wine giant loses ‘fake’ bottle case

Bordeaux wine giant Pétrus at Pomerol has lost the latest round in a legal battle to stop two wine negociant brothers using the Pétrus name on their bottles.

Bottles of Château Pétrus can sell for over €2,000 and its owners started a counterfeiting lawsuit against Stéphane and Jerôme Coureau after seeing a bottle labelled ‘Coureau & Coureau Pétrus Lambertini Major Burdegalensis 1208’.

The brothers, who run CGM Vins in Saint Savin near Blaye, Gironde, have sold the wine for seven years and registered it using the name of the first mayor of Bordeaux in 1208. It sells for €10.

Château Pétrus said the name would confuse buyers but lost on appeal. It will now take the case to the highest court, Cour de Cassation.

Stéphane Coureau said: “I don’t think anyone will confuse our wine with the great Pétrus. It is a very good wine even so. We use Champagne methods, buying in grapes from producers.”