The gendarmerie carried out a crackdown on Monday June 27 against a counterfeiting network which sold low-end wine for Bordeaux, damage estimated at "
hundreds of thousands of bottles
", the Bordeaux prosecutor's office announced on Friday. AFP.
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A hundred gendarmes arrested on Monday in the Médoc, in Gironde, and in seven departments around twenty people suspected of having taken part in this trafficking in counterfeit Bordeaux wines, the scale of which can be "
estimated at several hundred thousand bottles
" , underlined the public prosecutor Frédérique Porterie.
A fraud organized by the owner of a vineyard in the Médoc
Three of these suspects, including the "
main instigator
", were presented on Wednesday before an examining magistrate and indicted for "organized gang fraud and money laundering", "deception on the goods" and "falsification of foodstuffs".
They were released under judicial supervision with an obligation to pay bail of 20,000 to 50,000 euros.
While investigating drug trafficking, the gendarmes accidentally came across counterfeit material last September, such as "
false labels
", detailed the prosecution in a press release.
Then in October, fake Bordeaux wines were spotted in the Sarthe, leading the gendarmes to make the link with a counterfeit reported months earlier in the Médoc.
The prosecution opened an investigation in November entrusted to the research section with the support of the gendarmes of the Gironde and the "
wine
" group, a specialized cell of the gendarmerie of New Aquitaine.
The investigations revealed "
a large-scale fraud organized by the owner of a vineyard in the Médoc
", also a merchant.
The latter obtained wine through “
Spanish contacts
” and printed “
a large number of labels
” discreetly while bottling operations could take place at night.
The fake Bordeaux wines were then sold "
by whole pallets
" in several departments thanks to "
a network of official and unofficial distributors made up of companies, retirees, autoentrepreneurs
", according to the prosecution.
"Large
orders
", i.e. several thousand bottles, were also "
intended for mass distribution or for foreign countries
.
A counterfeit that targeted mid-range Médoc wines
Customers thought they were buying Bordeaux châteaux "
whose name and label inspired confidence, at prices that sometimes defied all competition
" while the bottles contained "
low-end wines or wines from fairly distant regions
", underlined the prosecutor.
During the searches, “
a dozen vehicles
” and “
a large volume of wine
” were seized.
According to a source close to the case, the counterfeiting targeted mid-range Médoc wines, which are easier to falsify than the great wines.
“
If the facts are proven, we hope that the perpetrators will be heavily condemned because these practices damage the image of Bordeaux wines and the image of all those who work well and respect the rules
”, reacted the Interprofessional Council Bordeaux wine joined by AFP.