Man demands money back from canton after bad wine sale

A man in Ticino who bought what he thought was a bargain load of high quality wine is now demanding his money back as all the bottles were corked.

But the seller is the canton itself. 

The man secured 120 bottles of Chateau Bel Air Marquis d’Aligre from 1996 at auction. The description says the wine is ‘perfectly balanced’. 

He paid CHF 1,200 for the lot. Normally a bottle would set you back CHF 50 so he saved more than CHF 5,000. 

But as he opened one after the other – they were all bad. 

The canton took ownership of the wine after an importer went bust. 

A wine expert told the Blick newspaper that the wine was likely to have been stored badly for months on end while legal proceedings dragged on. 

A spokesman for Ticino says anything sold at auction is not guaranteed. 

More from Bitesize News

  • Telecoms operator hacked

    Swiss operator Salt has confirmed hackers stole personal data belonging to its mobile customers

  • AI assists in recycling issue

    A Vaud recycling firm has switched on an artificial intelligence sorting line at its plant near Yverdon, aiming to close Switzerland's poor plastics recycling record

  • La Poste warning

    La Poste chief Christian Levrat warns Switzerland's postal service could disappear within a decade without major changes

  • Financial gap widens between Switzerland and eurozone

    The gap between Swiss and eurozone interest rates has hit a record 2.5 percentage points, after the European Central Bank raised its benchmark to 2.5% at the end of last week while the Swiss National Bank sits at zero

  • More job cuts in Geneva

    Geneva's UN trade agency plans to cut 70 of its 500 staff, as funding pressure mounts

  • Voting day just 2 weeks away

    Geneva heads to the polls on 27 September to decide whether it should be easier for tenants to buy the flat they rent

Download our app

  • Available on the App Store
  • Available on Google Play