French winemaker jailed for selling fake champagne made with Spanish wine
Bottles of the fake drink were sold in Leclerc supermarkets as well as exported abroad
The champagne was sold in supermarkets in France. Photo for illustration only.
ellbuny/Shutterstock
A French winemaker has been jailed for producing fake champagne and selling it in France and abroad.
Didier Chopin, 56, produced hundreds of thousands of bottles of fake champagne between 2022 and 2023, using wines from Spain and the Ardèche combined with flavourings and carbon dioxide.
He produced ‘champagnes’ under many different brand names, including Champagne Didier Chopin, which were sold in France and abroad, including at national French supermarket chain Leclerc.
He was sentenced to four years in prison, of which he will serve 18 months, at the Reims Criminal Court, in the Champagne region, on September 2.
Champagne is subject to an Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée, which means that only wines produced within the Champagne region, and that meet specific quality standards, may be called Champagne.
Mr Chopin, who had originally denied the charges, was found guilty of fraud, false designation of origin and misappropriation of corporate assets.
His wife, who was also charged, was given a two-year suspended prison sentence.
Mr Chopin and his wife were fined €100,000 each and their holding company, SAS Chopin, was fined €300,000.
Mr Chopin was also ordered to pay several million euros in damages to civil parties and victims, including buyers and the Comité Champagne, the organisation that brings together the main players in the champagne industry, from growers to merchants.
The couple were permanently banned from running their own company and may not work in any champagne-related role for five years.
During the trial, Mr Chopin gave conflicting figures of how many bottles he had produced, all in the hundreds of thousands. Some estimates put the number at well over 1.5 million.
Mr Chopin fled to Morocco after former employees revealed his fraud in 2023. He was arrested for writing fraudulent cheques and eventually extradited back to France.
He faces more charges on customs violations linked to the export of the fake champagne on February 3.
It is not the first case of wine fraud to hit the headlines in France.
In October 2024, police busted an international fraud ring that was selling poor quality bottles of wine for €15,000 each pretending they were top vintages.
