Constellation named in French wine scam

Constellation Brands has been dragged into the furore surrounding the fake Pinot Noir scam.

Constellation’s name was on court documents involving the 12 French wine producers who were charged with and found guilty of fraud on Wednesday 17 February.

The US Alcohol, Tobacco, Tax and Trade Bureau confirmed that Constellation had bought an undisclosed amount of the adulterated Pinot Noir used by E & J Gallo for their Red Bicyclette range.

Gallo had bought roughly 20% of the 130,000 hectolitres exported by Sieur d’Arques to the US between 2006 and 2008.

As no fraud had, so far, been committed on US soil the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) said it was not currently involved in the case.

However, should it be alleged that E & J Gallo, Constellation and, a third as-yet-unknown industry-leading company who bought some of the wine, were aware of the fraud and went ahead with selling the product to US consumers, then the ATF would investigate, an ATF spokeswoman told AFP.