warpedskydiver 0 #1 February 18, 2010 French guilty in US wine scandal 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. Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/8520980.stm Published: 2010/02/17 19:24:51 GMT Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MikeJD 0 #2 February 18, 2010 Quote "There is no prejudice. Not a single American consumer complained." So, not content with just ripping you off, they're also insulting your palate! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shropshire 0 #3 February 18, 2010 Quote Quote "There is no prejudice. Not a single American consumer complained." So, not content with just ripping you off, they're also insulting your palate! tough luck on any wine snobs (.)Y(.) Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Squeak 17 #4 February 18, 2010 Quote Quote "There is no prejudice. Not a single American consumer complained." So, not content with just ripping you off, they're also insulting your palate! Dont be stupid, Yanks dont have a palate They're biological, garbage disposal units Have ya seen the crap they eat, go to a Denny's and watch 'em, it's like feeding time at the Zoo Well it would be if all the animals were overfed and under excersiedUnfortunately my country seems to be following behind as fats as they canYou are not now, nor will you ever be, good enough to not die in this sport (Sparky) My Life ROCKS! How's yours doing? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hausse 0 #5 February 18, 2010 Quote Quote "There is no prejudice. Not a single American consumer complained." So, not content with just ripping you off, they're also insulting your palate! You're just pissed the French fucked with some ignorant Americans and they didn't realize it. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tokter 0 #6 February 18, 2010 Quote Have ya seen the crap they eat... Yes, macaroni salad....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4zw99VsoMA Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nataly 38 #7 February 19, 2010 Quote Quote Have ya seen the crap they eat... Yes, macaroni salad....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4zw99VsoMA Yershhh!! That looked absolutely revolting! (Where's the green puke-emoticon when you need it?!)"There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Squeak 17 #8 February 19, 2010 Quote Quote Have ya seen the crap they eat... Yes, macaroni salad....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4zw99VsoMA OMG, my arteries were hardening while watching thatYou are not now, nor will you ever be, good enough to not die in this sport (Sparky) My Life ROCKS! How's yours doing? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nataly 38 #9 February 19, 2010 Quote Quote Quote Have ya seen the crap they eat... Yes, macaroni salad....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4zw99VsoMA OMG, my arteries were hardening while watching that All I kept thinking was "is that supposed to be one portion??""There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Remster 30 #10 February 19, 2010 Quote Quote Quote Quote Have ya seen the crap they eat... Yes, macaroni salad....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4zw99VsoMA OMG, my arteries were hardening while watching that All I kept thinking was "is that supposed to be one portion??" Hey! That's health food! There's a full green pepper, a few celery sticks, carrots and onions in there!Remster Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JohnDeere 0 #11 February 19, 2010 Quote Quote Quote Quote Quote Have ya seen the crap they eat... Yes, macaroni salad....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4zw99VsoMA OMG, my arteries were hardening while watching that All I kept thinking was "is that supposed to be one portion??" Hey! That's health food! There's a full green pepper, a few celery sticks, carrots and onions in there! +1Nothing opens like a Deere! You ignorant fool! Checks are for workers! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
