Swiss winemaker Giroud cleared of wine fraud
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Swiss winemaker Dominique Giroud has been cleared of illegally topping up tens of thousands of bottles of AOC St Saphorin with unapproved wine.
Swiss officials in the canton of Vaud said they found no evidence that Giroud had bulked up St Saphorin appellation wines with unapproved Fendant wine.
The ruling ends five years of suspicion surrounding 100,000 bottles of Giroud’s wine. In 2009, an unnamed winemaker from Vaud filed a criminal complaint of wine fraud against Giroud, who is based in the canton of Valais. The complaint was dropped two years later, but authorities continued to investigate.
‘The contents of the bottles met the relevant legislation,’ officials said, according to a statement released by Giroud’s spokesperson, Marc Comina.
‘The case is now closed. Dominique Giroud is innocent,’ said Giroud’s lawyer, Yannis Sakkas.
It marks particularly welcome news for Giroud after he was convicted of tax fraud, also in the canton of Vaud, in July this year.
Giroud has had a turbulent relationship with Swiss media, which dubbed the allegations against him as the ‘Giroud affair’.
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Written by Chris Mercer
Chris Mercer is a Bristol-based freelance editor and journalist who spent nearly four years as digital editor of Decanter.com, having previously been Decanter’s news editor across online and print.
He has written about, and reported on, the wine and food sectors for more than 10 years for both consumer and trade media.
Chris first became interested in the wine world while living in Languedoc-Roussillon after completing a journalism Masters in the UK. These days, his love of wine commonly tests his budgeting skills.
Beyond wine, Chris also has an MSc in food policy and has a particular interest in sustainability issues. He has also been a food judge at the UK’s Great Taste Awards.