A high profile New Zealand winemaker has been fined for adding sugar to wine that was for sale in the European Union.
Under EU law, it is illegal to add sugar to wine in the post-fermentation phase, and Yealands Estate Wines exported four million litres of wine to Europe in breach of regulations, according to Stuff.
As well as adding the sugar, the company was also found to have falsified documents to conceal the addition.
Yealands Estate was fined $NZ400,000, its former general manager winery operations Jeff Fyfe and former chief winemaker Tamra Kelly were each fined $35,000, and the winery's former owner Peter Yealands was fined $30,000.
An Australian winemaker, Mayfield Family Wines, recently had its export licence cancelled by Wine Australia after incorrectly claiming on its label that the wine was from the Barossa Valley region, and was subsequently exported to Europe.
