Police have broken up an international counterfeit wine racket involving top Italian wines. German & Italian police have uncovered a cross-border scam involving table wine from Puglia & Piedmont sold as Barolo, Brunello di Montalcino, Amarone & Chianti. Unlabelled wine was brought into Germany, where it was given fake DOC & DOCG seals & phoney labels from well-known producers as well as non-existent wineries. 10 people have been charged. In some instances, wine worth less than 2 Euros was sold to the public for 100. "It is illegal to transport unlabelled wine across European borders, but because of the Schengen agreement (which has eliminated systematic checks at many European borders) it's very difficult to enforce the law,' said the source.
