Top 10 wine scandals
17th August, 2011
by
Rupert Millar
Mudslinging in Dallas sur Rhône
Family in-fighting is never pretty. In January last year accusations began flying around as arguments over money and inheritance turned nasty.
Guy Arnaud, a producer in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, divided his 51-hectare estate between his three daughters. The 17ha they each received were valued at €500,000 per hectare and would be granted to them when he died.
Two daughters were happy with the arrangement but the third, Carole Perveyrie-Arnaud was not.
She wanted access to her plot immediately, not upon her father’s death. She and her husband sued Arnaud for €200,000 and when she still couldn’t get at her land she spread rumours that her father was breaking appellation laws and blending wines from other AOC into his Châteauneuf-du-Pape.
The police were called in but no evidence of wrongdoing was discovered and the case was dropped.
The family met to resolve the situation and to appease Carole she was granted access to 8ha with a value of €3.5m.
However, she decided afterwards that the deal wasn’t good enough, “I came out the loser” she complained in a statement and threatened further legal action to get her hands on some of the buildings on the estate.