Man demands money back from canton after bad wine sale

Wednesday, 14 April 2021 at 05:54

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

Vaud's tallest building now open

The Tilia Tower, Vaud's tallest residential building at 85 metres, has officially opened in Prilly's Malley district
SBB app update

SBB has updated its mobile app with four new features aimed at daily commuters and expat travellers
Lausanne benefit for Crans Montana fire victim

The Alix Perroud Foundation hosted a benefit evening at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne last night, in memory of a young woman who died in the Crans-Montana fire
Lagarde soon to exit the ECB

Christine Lagarde will leave the European Central Bank in early February next year, nine months before her mandate ends, the ECB announced on yesterday
UBS could move out of Switzerland

UBS chief Sergio Ermotti has repeated his warning that the bank could leave Switzerland, telling Bloomberg that a Swiss passport is no longer enough to keep the bank here
Swiss office reopened in North Korea

Switzerland reopened its diplomatic office in Pyongyang yesterday — the first visit by a Federal Councillor to North Korea in more than twenty years

Download our app