Vintner’s Fall from Grace Involves 1.8 Million Bottles of ‘Faux’ Champagne, Sexual Assault Accusations and a Moroccan Jail

Champagne producer Didier Chopin is currently imprisoned in Morocco over authorities’ claims the vintner created a fake vegetable company.  (Photo: AP Photo/Virginia Mayo, File)

On Friday, Wine Searcher reported that Didier Chopin, a Champagne vintner, is spending time in a Moroccan jail cell after he faced charges of financial crimes in the country. The most recent charges are a minor footnote in a list of growing legal woes, including accusations of sexual assault and selling “faux-Champagne” made from carbonated wines from Spain and Ardèche.

Chopin is currently in hot water after Moroccan authorities accused him of creating a fake produce company without permission from the Moroccan Ministry of Agriculture.

The French outlet Vitisphere reported in April that Didier denied all allegations and referred to them as a “set-up.” He held his employees responsible.

Yet, Chopin’s legal representative, Francis Fossier, corroborated claims of the sham vegetable company, according to Wine Searcher. Fossier expressed that he visited the produce company and saw offices and equipment, but not a single employee on-site.

After Chopin was accused of fraud in 2023, Wine Searcher reported that he sold off agricultural equipment to different parts of the world, including North Africa. The French government acquired his vineyards and his companies were liquidated to the tune of €16 million ($17.3 million).

In April 2023, Meningers International reported that Chopin’s former employee, Ludivine Jeanmingin, alleged Chopin knowingly manufactured fake Champagne after he encountered financial troubles.

Jeanmingin claimed she noticed something was odd when 800,000 bottles of sparkling wine arrived. Instead of their usual green hue, the bottles were yellow. She claimed due to a strange process called “flocculation,” the bottles began to look like snow globes instead of Champagne bottles. She proceeded to file a lawsuit against Chopin and asked the court for protection as a whistleblower.

Yet, what appear to be some of the most troubling accusations against the Champagne vintner are a growing list of sexual assault allegations. At least 10 victims have come forward, and some of them are employees. One of them is a woman named Stéphanie Pelle-Paris, who worked for the disgraced vintner.

“He always arranged for me to be alone in certain areas,” Stéphanie Pelle-Paris expressed to FranceBleu. “When I said ‘no’ he wouldn’t listen. Once, I was all alone in the office, he started to stroke my hair, then touch my breasts. I told him to stop, he said ‘no’. He dragged me into the toilets against my will and it went even further: he put his hand in my underwear.”

The sexual assault allegations date as far back as 2006, according to Wine Searcher.

When asked about Chopin’s personality, Pelle-Paris claimed he was “very unlikeable” and fostered a toxic work environment.

Chopin continues to deny all wrongdoing.

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