At least 50 entities tied to Italian wine production, including vineyards and bottling companies, are under investigation for cutting expensive wines with mediocre grapes, reports The Daily Beast. The companies investigated include prestigious wines from Pordenone, Udine, Treviso, Venice, Padova, Reggio Emilia, Modena, Ravenna, Florence, Livorno, Naples, and several cities in Puglia. The investigation is expected to take weeks in order to assess the full scale of the fraud.
The lead prosecutor believes extreme weather conditions in recent years likely contributed to both an overproduction of grapes in less regions and a shortage of grapes in more sought-after wine regions. It's suspected that in order to keep up with demand, brands broke the law and used cheaper grapes from other parts of the country. The small amount of wine produced in better regions was kept in Italy while the fradulent wine was mostly exported.
Investigators opened up a parallel study to determine if any of Italy's organized crime syndicates were involved. According to Italy's national agricultural association, Coldiretti, agro-mafia practices have infiltrated many of the country's made-in-Italy exporting, resulting in a system of false products that exceeds $68 billion a year. Full Story
Related: Sotheby's Upcoming Wine Auction To Net $26 Million; US Wine Market Tops $70 Billion in 2018.
from Specialty Food News http://bit.ly/2S8DhWp
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