French police foil counterfeiters passing off cheap plonk as classy Bordeaux

Discovery of of printing machinery used to make fake labels led to arrest of 20 people in seven areas of France

French police have broken up a gang that had allegedly produced hundreds of thousands of bottles of fake Bordeaux wine in an elaborate counterfeiting operation, prosecutors said on Friday.

Officers investigating drug dealing in the south-western French region discovered printing machinery being used to create labels for the bottles last September, sparking a wider criminal investigation.