DOK wine police investigation started over two months ago

MaltaToday can reveal that the report on an alleged fraud of 'Maltese' DOK wine was passed on to the police's fraud section at the end of January, despite it having been in the hands of the police since December.

The Rural Affairs Ministry has confirmed with MaltaToday that its report had been passed over to the police on 29 December, 2011. The report was however passed on the Economic Crimes Squad for investigation a month later.

Answering questions sent by this newspaper, Police Commissioner John Rizzo confirmed that the report had been forwarded to the Economic Crimes Squad at the end of last January.

Asked at what stage the investigations are at the moment, the police said that they "are still ongoing".

This newspaper revealed that the police are investigating an alleged fraud of Maltese DOK wine - produced by Delicata Wineries - after it transpired that the grapes used for the wine were not grown on Maltese soil but had been imported from Italy.

A wine acquires the DOK (controlled designation of origin) certification only when wines are produced with grapes grown in Malta.

The Agricultural Directorate, as part of the administrative control obligations under the wine quality schemes, retrieves samples of various wines from the market.

The Director of Agriculture, Justin Zahra, was responsible for the compiling of the report which found that there could be a breach of law amounting to fraud.

The wines in question are the Gran Cavalier Vintage 2010 and the Medina Sauvignon Blanc 2010 Vintage. Oenologists identified the similarity of the aroma and taste of these wines with another Delicata wine, the Delicata Cavalli Blanc varietal 2010, which declares it uses Italian grapes.

Delicata has since failed to comment on the issue despite repeated attempts by MaltaToday to get a reaction. Delicata Managing Director George Delicata is insisting that he knows nothing about the case.