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The wine company Reserva de la Tierra in Taragona has been closed down by the Catalan police for allegedly labelling up to 50 million bottles of wine with fake designations of origin. According to the Spanish police's investigation, irregularities were allegedly found in laboratory tests and label checks in wineries, supermarkets and shops. The low sales prices also made the inspectors suspicious. They accuse the company of having printed and circulated several million false certificates in addition to a few bottles with a genuine certificate of origin.
According to the Spanish police, Reserva de la Tierra had been authorised to sell only a total of 5,000 bottles of wine from the DO Priorat, but had planned to sell 150,000 bottles this year. The police announced that they had seized more than 3.2 million false labels and 750,000 bottles in the warehouses.
The wine brands affected include Heredad Mistral, Heredad Centum and Vespral. Some of them are also said to be available in Germany and Austria. The investigating court in Reus has ordered four supermarket chains to immediately withdraw from circulation all bottles likely to be involved in the fraud. Charges have been brought against seven people.
(al / Source: El Pais; Photo: Mossos d'Esquadra)
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