Leading Bordeaux figure sentenced over mislabelling controversy

Hervé Grandeau, the president of the Féderation des Grands Vins de Bordeaux (FGVB), has been fined and given a jail term for mislabelling and misuse of several thousand hectolitres of wine.

Régis and Hervé Grandeau

Grandeau and his brother Régis were each given a suspended four month sentence with a €30,000 fine and both of their businesses (Vignobles Grandeau and Maison Grandeau Lauuc) were fined €200,000 by a Bordeaux court yesterday (27 June).

The pair were charged with fraudulently labelling around 6,000 hectolitres of wine worth €1.3 million between 2010 and 2014 and for failing to properly dispose of excess AOC wine after an investigation by the French fraud office – the Direction générale de la concurrence, de la consommation et de la répression des fraudes (DGCCRF).

All of the mislabelled wine came from Grandeau’s own vineyards.

In handing down his sentence, the president of the court said: “As well as infringing the specifications of the appellations, which you helped put in place and could not ignore, you have contributed to a loss of confidence in the image and quality of the appellations.”

The FGVB is one of the most important trade bodies in Bordeaux, representing 6,000 growers as well as controlling the management agencies that oversee the application process for AOC classification.

Grandeau denied any wrong doing or fraudulent intent and made no comment after the verdict.