French wine fraud

[Houndsong]

"After a year-long judicial investigation, the defendants were accused of substituting wine made from less expensive local grape varieties for the Pinot Noir, which is hugely popular on the American market."

Gotta love the lawyers:

"Jean-Marie Bourland, a lawyer for Sieur d'Arques, did not rule out an appeal. 'There is no prejudice. Not a single American consumer complained,' he argued.

Pierre Dounac, lawyer for three defendants including Ducasse's director Claude Courset, argued that his clients had done no harm as they had delivered a wine with the characteristics of Pinot Noir."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100217/bs ... nceustrial

[JonB]

Oh the injustice. The last sentence of the article struck me.......

"A 1985 case revealed that Austrians had spiced up their cru with a substance also found in antifreeze."

[Ramon_NYC]

Pierre Dounac, lawyer for three defendants including Ducasse's director Claude Courset, argued that his clients had done no harm as they had delivered a wine with the characteristics of Pinot Noir."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100217/bs ... nceustrial

Hmmm. Could these guys be stealing all my Burgundy tasting notes?

[Claudius]

So they are saying that fake wine is okay if nobody complains and/or the fake wine has some charactersitics of the real thing.
Wow, no wonder people make lawyer jokes.
This one really is lower than a rodent's butt.