Gallo suppliers made millions in Pinot Noir scam

FRENCH wine-makers and dealers were convicted this week of selling millions of bottles of fake Pinot Noir to the US firm E&J Gallo in one of the biggest scams ever to rattle the wine world.

A court handed out suspended jail terms and hefty fines to 12 people for selling 18 million bottles of wine they said was Pinot Noir but which was in fact made from far cheaper grape varieties.

The convicted people included executives from wine estates, cooperatives, a broker, wine merchant Ducasse and the conglomerate Sieur d’Arques.