More than 15,000 bottles of wine were delivered to Eastern Court yesterday but there was no clinking of wine glasses. The deliveries - mostly kept in three trucks outside the court - were exhibits in a case of allegedly falsely-labelled French wine. Wine wholesaler Leung Yick is accused of possessing 11,863 bottles of wine to which a false trade description, Mouton Cadet 1995, was applied in October 1999. The defunct online retailer AdMart was accused over 3,749 bottles. The administrative nightmare of getting the wine to the court in Sai Wan Ho was led by prosecutor Fanny Wong. Her day did not start well as she had to ask for a delay in proceedings to arrange the exhibits for admission in court. After an hour, court proceedings resumed at 11.30am with the prosecution calling its first witness, Thierry Estrada de Tourniel, general manager for Asia-Pacific of Baron Philippe de Rothschild, which produces Mouton Cadet. Ms Wong's first objective is to prove that Mr de Tourniel should be considered an expert witness in identifying counterfeit wine. To this end Mr de Tourniel was questioned by Ms Wong on his knowledge of wine bottles, corks and boxes. However, Ms Wong was visibly straining to understand Mr de Tourniel's English, spoken with a strong French accent. Magistrate Chau Hing-pang also asked for numerous phrases to be repeated. Without the slightest hint of irony, it was decided during the lunchtime break that Mr de Tourniel - who has worked in the United States for a number of years - had insufficient English proficiency to submit evidence. For the afternoon session Mr de Tourniel was asked to speak in his native tongue and allow a translator to speak to the court in English. The magistrate and Ms Wong had a little less trouble with the translator's French accent but a few repetitions were nonetheless required. Although Ms Wong concluded her questioning of Mr de Tourniel yesterday it was only au revoir as he has to return today to face defence barristers Daniel Fung Wah-kin and Andrew Bruce. The wine will have to be brought back to the court today for the fifth day of the trial. Leung Yick, its director So Shiu-chuen and sales representative Tam Chi-sang deny four counts of supplying goods with a false description. Leung Yick and So also deny two charges of possession. AdMart, its vice-president Wong Wan-sung and sales manager Nip Kam-wing deny 10 counts.
