Fake labels for wines from Brunello to Chianti sold in supermarkets

Brunello di Montalcino, Chianti Classico, Morellino di Scansano and Montefalco Sagrantino falsely labelled as Docg, Doc and Igt and sold in large batches in supermarkets. The Cassazione, after years of proceedings, confirmed the conviction for counterfeiting geographical indications or designations of origin (Article 517-quater of the Criminal Code) against the former director of a company that bottled wines, while affirming the statute of limitations of the crime for a business procurer in the wine buying and selling sector in large-scale distribution. For the judges, the dynamics of the facts were clear. On wine, sometimes bought in bulk, the defendants, through 'the preparation of false fiscal and accounting documents, counterfeited and put on sale, at various supermarkets, huge batches of Brunello di Montalcino, Chianti Classico, Morellino di Scansano and Montefalco Sagrantino wine falsely labelled as D.O.C.G., D.O.C. and I.G.T. All the consortia of the prestigious brands have joined the proceedings as civil plaintiffs. A proceeding that had its origins in investigations by the public prosecutor's office and the Guardia di Finanza, which once again acted to protect the image of some of the most famous national DOCG and DOC wines in the world..

From false labels to counterfeiting, it is not easy to quantify the economic damage toMade in Italy wine. The Istat, the National Institute of Statistics, has estimated that the food counterfeiting market in Italy is worth around 15 billion euro per year. However, it is not possible, in the absence of official numbers, to isolate the figure that concerns wine in particular, which nevertheless has a significant impact. According to some sector studies, the counterfeit wine market in Italy could be worth up to 10 billion euro a year, while for Coldiretti, the turnover in 12 months exceeds 6 billion. The estimate of Federalimentare, communicated at Vinitaly 2024, speaks of a counterfeiting of Italian wines in the world (excluding Italian sounding) that is worth about two billion: 30% of the six billion in total value of fraud in agro-food products. These figures are even more worrying when compared with the value of wine exports in the year 2023, which is 7.7 billion. The worst damage, however, is to the image. Prestigious Italian companies are at risk, quite blamelessly, of losing the trust of consumers, despite the resources deployed and the costs incurred for actions to combat alterations of any kind, with activities ranging from territorial controls to awareness campaigns.