Judge orders Chairmen of Felix Solis and Garcia Carrion to declare at Spain’s highest criminal court over one of the biggest recent wine fraud scandals.
More than 15 million litres of Spanish red wine from the Valdepeñas appellation of Castilla La Mancha is alleged to have been fraudulently labelled with the ageing categories of Crianza, Reserva and Gran Reserva, according to the new court order from Spain’s highest criminal court, the Audencia Nacional.
A Spanish judicial investigation into wine fraud involving the wine companies Felix Solis and Garcia Carrion, in which young wines placed onto the Spanish market between 2017 and 2019, allegedly did not meet production requirements, was launched in 2021.
However, the investigation took a sharp turn on October 4 when Judge José Luis Calama ordered the Chairman of Garcia Carrion, José García Carrión Jordán, and Félix Solis Janez, the CEO and Chairman of Felix Solis, to appear at the Audencia Nacional in Madrid.
Both men will face questioning in December at court over their alleged involvement in criminal accusations of fraud, forgery, and misleading advertising charges.
During his investigation, Judge Calama is understood to have found inconsistencies between documentation and data supplied by the two wine companies investigated, which includes two certification providers, and the information provided by the Valdepeñas wine board.
The news today hit the headlines of Spain’s national newspapers, all of which cited the judge’s court order which states:
Félix Solis commercialised red wines in the Valdepeñas appellation labelled with [the ageing categories] of Crianza, Reserva and Gran Reserva in much higher quantities than the amount of wine it officially declared at the Regulatory Council (wine board) of the Valdepeñas appellation during 2017, 2018 and 2019.’
Producer Garcia Carrion is also accused of not meeting production standards in terms of barrel-ageing and bottle ageing.
The judge’s court order states that the two companies fraudulently labelled a staggering total of 15.6 million litres of red wine, 6 million litres of which were labelled as Gran Reserva wines.
It states that ‘with respect to the data facilitated by the court injunction, the difference [between wines commercialised and wines officially declared] amounts to 15.621.492 litres.’
Judge Calama’s investigation centres on wines sold and placed on the market in Spain to 13 companies, however in his court order, Calama suggested that wine exports were not necessarily unaffected by the fraudulently labelled wines.
Spanish companies Sohicert and Liec Agroalimentaria, are understood to have cooperated in the criminal activity by knowingly providing certification for fraudulently labelled wines.
The court order adds that the number of wine barrels owned by the wine companies investigated was insufficient for them to produce and sell such high quantities of Valdepeñas red wine.
In early 2021, the wine regulatory board of the Valdepeñas appellation in Castilla La Mancha was disbanded after the production sector formed of growers and cooperatives abandoned the managing body of the board in protest over the fraud allegations against Garcia Carrion and Felix Solis.
Both companies are amongst the world’s largest wine companies with global wine exports accounting for a substantial share of sales.
