The public prosecutor's office is investigating more than 50 companies of the Italian wine industry for suspected fraud. They include renowned wineries, grape producers and bottling companies from the regions of Pordenone, Udine, Treviso, Venice, Padua, Reggio Emilia, Modena, Ravenna, Florence, Livorno, Naples as well as in Apulia. They are accused by the police investigators of having produced and bottled renowned and expensive wines of the classifications DOP, IGP and DOC from inferior grapes from other parts of the country. The names of the estates and wines will be made public by the police in the next few days.
The authorities in Pordenone (Friuli Grave) in the north-east of Italy had noticed faked bottles and thereupon had initiated comprehensive investigations. The investigators assume that the extreme weather conditions could have been a reason for the fakes. Thus, huge harvests had been produced in little-known wine regions, while there had been too few grapes in renowned places. The great demand and the high bottle prices might have tempted producers to illegally buy up grapes of lower quality from other regions and to produce classified wines from them.
Another investigation group is looking into whether the "agro-mafia" could be involved in the case. Organised gangs with firm mafia structures are very often active with counterfeits in the export-strong food industry. The authorities estimate the value of counterfeit food with regional protection status as well as wines at about 18 billion euros per year.