Fake label scam affected '13 Olympic swimming pools of wine'
Wine bottles stored in a cellar. (Getty iStock) Getty
France's anti-fraud body says it has uncovered a huge scam in which a merchant tried to sell more than 48 million litres of wine falsely labelled as Cotes-du-Rhone.
The DGCRF said in its annual report that the fraud encompassed the equivalent of 13 Olympic-sized swimming pools full of wine.
About 20 million litres of the fake Cotes-du-Rhone were offered for sale between 2013 and 2016 through the scam, including one million litres bearing the prestigious Chateauneuf-du-Pape name.
Investigators seized a 100,000-litre vat of the latter wine.
The merchant, whose identity wasn't released, was handed preliminary charges of fraud and deception.
He was freed on a one million euro ($AU1.593 million) bail and banned from working at his company.
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