A wine merchant sentenced to prison closes to competition and image of Bordeaux wines

The condemnation of Vincent Lataste for “deception, attempt at deception on the substantial qualities of the wines, fraudulent use and attempted fraudulent use of AOP” is unpublished in the wine environment.

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The judgment pronounced by the Bordeaux Court of Appeal is united in the Bordeaux wine environment. At a hearing in camera on October 27, the Bordelais wine merchant Vincent Lataste was sentenced to one year in prison and 30,000 euros fine, including 20,000 euros suspended, while his company, Sequoia, , renamed awesome, will have to pay a fine of 100,000 euros, of which 50 000 euros suspended.

m. Lataste and its society are condemned for “deception, attempted deception on the substantial qualities of the wines, fraudulent use and attempted fraudulent use of AOP (protected appellation)”. For the same facts, Mr. Lataste had been sentenced in the first instance, in June 2019, six months in prison and the same fine against him. His company, she had been sentenced to pay 150,000 euros of fines, including 100,000 suspended.

At the end of the judgment, the lawyer of Mr Lataste, M e Jean Gonthier, formed an appeal in cassation, arguing that his client and his company “dispute on the one hand The legality of the investigation conducted by the administration, which disregarded the rights of the defense, on the other hand, the very constitution of the prosecuted offenses, both in their materiality and their intentionality. ” He adds that they “have the firm hope that the Court of Cassation will exercise his censorship and allow them to be rebugged. In the state, they continue to benefit from the presumption of innocence”.

Already known unfavorably

The case begins in 2015. The National Institute of Origin and Quality (INAO) proceeds, as part of a routine check, to the analysis of vast lots marketed by the company Sequoia, located in Cadillac (Gironde), southeast of Bordeaux. “Classical control, as part of the compliance with the specifications relating to the appellations of the control plans, where we carry out analytical and organytic verifications of the wines”, precise laurent faithful, territorial delegate of the INAO for the Southwest .

More than 10,000 inspections of the genus are conducted each year throughout the Gironde Department. During this check, the analysis reveals an excessive content of sulfur dioxide wine (so 2 ). Depending on the judgment, the content was “more than 90 micrograms per liter above the maximum of 150 milligrams per liter allowed for dry red wines”. This makes it then “non-loyal and merchant”, continues Laurent faithful, for lots for export, mainly to China.

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/Media reports.