A Marne winemaker is suspected of having sold thousands of bottles of “fake champagne”, according to information from our colleagues at L’Union, confirmed by France Bleu Champagne-Ardenne. Didier Chopin, who produces champagne in Champlat-et-Boujacourt, in Marne, and sparkling wine near Soissons, in Aisne, is accused by one of his former employees of having imported wines from Ardèche or even Spain to add CO2 and liqueur, and pass it off as champagne.
According to her, up to 1.8 million bottles have been sold, “between ten and twenty euros”, in France and abroad. The Leclerc brand has also removed bottles from its shelves. The DGCCRF, the Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Prevention, was seized. Analyzes are in progress.
The Reims public prosecutor’s office is waiting to receive the file from the DGCCRF to open an investigation, “which should be soon”, we are told. For the moment, justice only has the testimony of this former employee, former manager of the Soissons site, that we encountered.
In June 2022, sparkling wine “changes appearance”
Hired in May 2021 by Didier Chopin, “which owns 22 brands of champagne”, Ludivine Jeanmingin says that at first everything was going well, “until April 2022, when the banks decided to no longer follow the Chopin company”. And this is where, according to her, everything changes.
“Mr. Chopin no longer slept. And in June 2022, he called me to tell me that he had obtained a contract for 800,000 bottles of sparkling wine”, explains the former manager of the Axon site. She assures that from that moment, the yellow bottles are replaced by green ones, boxes of champagne corks arrive, And “the drink changes appearance”.
“It looks more like a Christmas ball than a bottle of champagne”
Ludivine Jeanmingin affirms that the recipe is changed. “We add CO2 and liqueur to sparkling wine, which is completely illegal, and it creates chips. So it looks more like a Christmas ball than a bottle of champagne.”
Statements confirmed by another employee, still in office, and who wishes to remain anonymous. He works for a subcontractor of Didier Chopin. Responsible for transporting bottles, between Soissons and Champlat-et-Boujacourt, he claims to have seen production change from June 2022.
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Dismissed for serious misconduct
This recipe change is not “not dangerous for health, but the taste is not good”, according to Ludivine Jeanmingin. And the twenty customers who recently left a negative opinion on Google seem to confirm. So she decides to investigate, “because being site manager, I could never say that I was not aware”.
Google screenshot
For ten months, she “gathered evidence, in the submarine with territorial intelligence, until April 8, when we were able to reveal everything”. That day, she alerts all her colleagues, by message. A few days later, she receives a commissioned letter. “I think I’m going to be laid off, it did not miss. Laid off for dismissal for serious misconduct.”
This former employee wants whistleblower status
Ludivine Jeanmingin is now asking the courts to protect her. She claims to obtain the status of whistleblower.
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The DGCCRF must now submit its file to the office of the public prosecutor in Reims. According to our information, she is waiting return of bottle analyses. The prosecution will then decide on what grounds it is opening an investigation, and whether it decides to seize the Research Brigade, or the Research Section.
For his part, Didier Chopin, whom we contacted, did not respond to our interview requests. But to our colleagues from The Union, he denounced accusations “unfounded” And “shameful”.
