French Wine Executive Indicted in Fake Wine Scheme

The chairman of French wine merchant Raphaël Michel has been
indicted on charges that he masterminded a scheme to label
nearly 4 million cases of ordinary table wine as Rhône Valley
wines, including Châteaunneuf-du-Pape and Côtes du Rhône.
Guillaume Ryckwaert has been charged with fraud, deception and
violations of consumer and tax codes. Several other company
executives were taken into custody in Marseilles but released
without charges. Agents of the French National Customs Judicial
Service discovered the alleged scheme during a company audit in
2016. See The Times, August 4, 2017.