france says "pardon our french"
harmony
A dozen French winemakers and traders have been found guilty of a massive
scam to sell 18 million bottles of fake Pinot Noir to a leading US buyer.
The judge in Carcassonne, south-west France, said the producers and traders
had severely damaged the reputation of the Langedoc region.
The 12 more than doubled profits passing off the wine to E and J Gallo under
its Red Bicyclette brand.
E and J Gallo was not involved in the court case.
In a statement on its website it said it was "deeply disappointed" to learn
its supplier, Sieur d'Arques, had been found guilty of selling falsely
labelled French Pinot Noir.
'No complaints'
The court ruled the 12 had deliberately and repeatedly mislabelled the wine
as one of the more expensive varieties of grape in order to get a better
price from E and J Gallo.
The Red Bicyclette Pinot Noir single grape wine is hugely popular in the
United States.
French Customs officers spotted the swindle and called in investigators.
They found the amount of Pinot Noir being sold to Gallo was far more than
the region produced.
Some of those in the scandal were not even Pinot Noir producers.
The judge handed out suspended jail sentences ranging from one month to six
months for the most prominent wine trader and ordered all the defendants to
pay fines.
The fines ranged from 1,500 euros ($2,050; �1,300) to the top figure of
180,000 euros ($247,050; �156,500) for Sieur d'Arques. The judge said that
the accused together made seven million euros in profits from the scam.
The judge said: "The scale of the fraud caused severe damage for the wines
of the Languedoc for which the United States is an important outlet."
A lawyer for Sieur d'Arques, Jean-Marie Bourland, told Agence France-Presse:
"There is no prejudice. Not a single American consumer complained."
A lawyer for three other defendants argued his clients had delivered a wine
that had Pinot Noir characteristics.
E and J Gallo said it was no longer selling any of the wine to its
customers.
and/or www.mantra.com/jai
No matter. The fake stuff will also damage the liver and cause other alcohol-related
diseases.
Jai Maharaj, Jyotishi
Om Shanti
In article <4b7d5ead$0$12451$bbae...@news.suddenlink.net>,
"harmony" <a...@hotmail.com> posted: