Spanish rosé wine. Deceptive bottles sold for French products

According to an investigation by the Directorate of the repression of frauds, revealed this Monday by Le Parisien, several million bottles of Spanish rosé wine were "made up" to be sold as French wine.

An investigation of the Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF) shows that millions of liters of Spanish rosé were sold for French wine, reveals Le Parisien Monday, July 9 . After receiving alerts at the end of 2015 on the Frenchization of Spanish wines, the DGCCRF launched a survey in 2016 and 2017.

Alexandre Chevallier, the deputy director of the DGCCRF, explains daily that "these cases of francisation concer more than 70 000 hectoliters of wine ". The equivalent of 10 million bottles of rosé

Depending on the establishment, the quantities of wine presented fraudulently range from 2,000 to 34,500 hectoliters. "Spanish wines were thus resold in bulk as " wine of France " even by usurping a French IGP name" indicates the DGCCRF in its investigation report consulted on Monday .

Labeling anomalies

In total, 743 establishments were inspected in two years: "22% of establishments visited in 2016 and 15% of establishments visited in 2017 were subject to non-compliance ranging from confusing presentation to francization "she states.

A fleur-de-lis, a French badade, the words" Produced in France "or" Bottled in France "were put forward while the mention of origin "Wine of Spain" or "Wine of the European community" appeared on the back of the bottle and in a way that was difficult to read. The Parisian recalls what obligatory mentions to watch out for: the country of origin must be indicated on the bottle, the geographical indication, the name of the farm and the characteristics of the wine.

The investigation of the repression of fraud was "extended to cafes, hotels and restaurants to check in particular the origin of wine sold in a pitcher or glbad" : 2,414 establishments were thus controlled. The investigators found among the failings "the absence of mention of origin of the wine on the wine list while the confusion is maintained by the use of French-sounding commercial names" but also "Voluntary Francisations of the origin" while it was Spanish wine

"A question of price"

The reason for this fraud? "It's a matter of price" meets the AFP Jérôme Despey, general secretary of the FNSEA and winemaker in the Hérault. "The bulk Spanish rosé was sold in 2016 at around 0.35 euro per liter, at the French level it was on average 0.85 euro per liter, it was double the same! " he recalls. A distortion of competition due in large part to large production surpluses in Spain in 2016, which resulted in price decreases.

However, the situation was restored to the 2017 harvest, which was very small in all parts of the country. European Union, note Mr. Despey, for whom these controls go "in the good sense" : "We must continue to have a pressure of the controls so that such things can not happen again he asked, also calling on the government to put in place "clearer labeling on the origin of products" .

Regular inspections

" I asked the DGCCRF (..) to continue its controls in the sector on a regular basis " badured Mrs. Delphine Gény-Stephann, Secretary of State for the Economy, recalling that France is the second producer world of wine.

This war between lives In the south of France and Spain, there were very strong tensions in 2017: the actions of wine growers to protest against these imports had multiplied in the Gard, Hérault, Aude and Pyrénées-Orientales.

The French and Spanish Ministers of Agriculture met almost a year ago today in Paris to try to bury the hatchet. This meeting has since enabled the establishment of tools to limit price volatility, according to Mr. Despey.

In the case of scammers detected, compliance injunctions, minutes and procedures criminal cases for fraud were launched by the DGCCRF, which states that if "serious defaults" were noted, "may relate to large volumes" "the checks showed that the Regulation was correctly applied in the majority of cases ".

The penalties for deceptive commercial practice are two years' imprisonment and a fine of € 300,000, which can be raised to 10% of turnover. annual average, recalls the repression of frauds.