Mezzacorona, irregular IGT wines: water in tanks and suspicious origin

Three employees of a well-known Trentino wine company, Mezzacorona, are under investigation for criminal conspiracy, commercial fraud, and the sale of wines with misleading marks. On November 5, the Trento Guardia di Finanza, together with inspectors from the Central Inspectorate for Quality Protection and Fraud Repression of Agri-food Products (Icqrf), executed a personal, local, and digital search warrant against them, issued by the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Trento.

The investigation began with checks by the Trento Economic-Financial Police Unit, carried out as part of a memorandum of understanding with the Icqrf. Vegetation water was allegedly found in some tanks at the Mezzacorona winery. According to investigators, it was used on the wines through the enological practice of reverse osmosis without the mandatory notification to the SIAN digital register, the National Agricultural Information System.

In must, it is primarily used to remove part of the water and concentrate sugars. In wine treatments, membrane techniques can be used, among other purposes, for partial dehydration or dealcoholization and to correct certain parameters, such as acidity and pH.

The OIV lists these objectives and includes reverse osmosis among the usable techniques. During the operation, several wine products were also sampled. Analyses conducted with the involvement of specialized Icqrf laboratories reportedly revealed discrepancies between the wines and the related documentation.

According to investigators, some wines declared, certified, and marketed by Mezzacorona as “IGT 2025” were found to be irregular regarding both geographical origin and vintage, which were deemed different from those indicated for the products on sale.

The potential alteration of these indications would have allowed, according to the investigative hypothesis, to reduce costs and sell more bottles by presenting them with superior characteristics than the actual ones.