Massive wine fraud sting nets prominent Canadian figures

Montréal police arrested 12 individuals—many in the wine industry—last month in what authorities are calling “one of the most [significant] tax-evasion schemes referring to alcohol contraband in Quebec.” Authorities allege that 20 different labels being sold by the First Nations Winery were actually just Italian bulk wine doctored with different flavor adulterants, and now several Canadian winemakers and other prominent industry members are behind bars. Some 23,500 gallons of wine—the equivalent of 9,900 cases—were seized in warehouses and private residences over the course of 32 raids, the culmination of a sting operation dubbed “Project Malbec.”