British consumers have been victims of one of France’s biggest wine frauds, according to investigators who believe that 66 million ordinary bottles were passed off as Châteauneuf-du-Pape or other Côtes du Rhônes. Up to 15 per cent of the annual output of the Côtes du Rhône appellation from 2013 to 2016 was counterfeit, an investigation by the French trading standards agency has found after the head of one of the country’s oldest and largest wholesalers of wine was arrested. Up to 1.3 million bottles were falsely labelled as Châteauneuf-du-Pape, the most prestigious of the Côtes du Rhône wines, the agency said. Châteauneuf-du-Pape typically sells for £14-£50 a bottle in the UK, compared with £4 for the wine allegedly sold in its stead. Guillaume Ryckwaert, owner…

Source: The Times March 17, 2018 00:00 UTC