In the prestigious Bordeaux wine-growing area there are suspicions that a large-scale fraud has been perpetrated involving vintage years of the region’s world-famous wines. Authorities reported on Friday afternoon that the Police are investigating Khaled Rouabah, a Belgian wine dealer who is accused of illegally mixing fine vintages with younger wines. Tastings of samples of  Château Margaux and Château Lafite-Rothschild 1900 have revealed that the wine in the bottles was not from the year shown on the labels. Scientific analysis of the samples have shown that the wine was actually from later than 1950.  

But this may just be the start of investigations. Around 20 prestigious Bordeaux vineyards, among them Pétrus, Cheval Blanc and Mouton-Rothschild, still face scrutiny. According to French wine law, when the corks of vintage wines have to be replaced after a certain time the bottles can only be topped up with wines of the same origin and from the same year.