Scandal shakes France’s wine industry | Luxembourg word

Since Tuesday, a 56-year-old winemaker has been on trial, which has produced and sold false champagne between 2022 and 2023. The total damage is estimated at several million euros. He produced the wrong sparkling wine in the Aisne region from Wines from Spain and the Ardèche, which he added flavors and carbonic acid to make them tingling. This contradicts the quality regulations of the « Appellation d’Ormin Protégée ». Champagne may only be called if the grapes come from the champagne, and the use of carbon dioxide is also prohibited according to AOP.

The public prosecutor calls for four years in prison, three of them on probation and a fine of 100,000 euros. Against the wife of the winemaker, two years in prison and a fine of 100,000 euros are required against the same allegations of fraud and the misuse of an original designation.

The prosecutor criticized a “cynical and intentional profit logic” and called for a final ban on the couple to run a company or to perform an industrial or commercial activity in connection with champagne. In addition, she called for the confiscation of the entire confiscated assets and the destruction of the confiscated bottles. Finally, for the couple, SAS Chopin, she called for a fine of 300,000 euros for embezzlement and abuse of company assets. The judgment will be announced on September 2.

The accused admitted his mistakes

« This is a sad conclusion. I made a mistake, I am ruined and I have nothing more to add, » the accused reacted after the process towards some media representatives, including AFP. His lawyer Francis Fossier pleaded for a suspended sentence for fraud and abuse of an original name and emphasized that his client had already been imprisoned « seven months » in Morocco, « under terrible conditions ».

After his fraudulent champagne shops had come to light in the summer of 2023 due to revelations by one of his former employees, the entrepreneur had fled to Morocco. There he tried to gain a foothold again by founding a vegetable cultivation company. However, he was finally arrested, convicted and imprisoned in Morocco for uncovered checks.

The winemaker had also exported the fake champagne. The negotiation for this illegal export was postponed to February 3, 2026. In addition, the winemaker is faced with further legal proceedings for allegations of sexual violence that were raised by several of his former employees. Five of them filed a lawsuit.