Authorities on Wednesday impounded 47 hectares of vineyards and seized some 800,000 of wine which was about to be used to produce a fake Chianti Classico quality wine.
The operation blocked the marketing of over a million bottles of Chianti Classico which would have carried the label of guaranteed and controlled designation of origin (DOCG) without having met the requisites.
The owners of the Castelnuovo Berardegna vineyard and wine company face charges of fraud and VAT evasion.
Police said that Wednesday's operation was the result of an investigation which began with last year's harvest and uncovered what was described as ''sophisticated mass fraud''.
This involved selling fake Chianti Classico to three important companies specialised marketing this type of wine with counterfeit labels and certification.
According to investigators, the vineyard blended wines into its Chianti Classico wines which did not meet DOCG standards in order to increase production.
The Chianti Classico consortium issued a statement that it, too, had the vineyard in question under observation and had refused some time ago to issue DOCG certification for its wine.
The consortium added that it has collaborated in full with the fraud probe.
