If John Michael Broadbent, Gil Lempert-Schwarz, and John Kapon can’t tell authentic from fake, what chance have we got?
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Story from Forbes today – China is Facing an Epidemic of Contraband Wine
The Interprofessional Council of Bordeux Wine boldly estimates that 30,000 bottles of fake imported wine are sold per hour in China. Jeremy Oliver, an Australian wine critic was quoted by The Weekly Times saying he was told stories that the average bottle of Champagne in China is filled seven times. He estimates that 50% of wines retailing for $35 or more in China are bogus.
Obviously, its nothing by comparison to China or other countries (the Pegau bottles mentioned above were photographed in a Mexican store), but how bad is the problem in the United States with regard to less than uber-prestige level wines?
I like the La Tache with the screwcap in the third pic.
I don’t know, that Council looks pretty suspect themselves…
It is amazing what is faked and the outlets the faked wine can get into.
A while ago, maybe 12 years ago or so, I was at a wine dinner at a friend’s house with Maureen and a number of other folks. One of the wines someone brought was a 1990 Lynch Bages. My wife tasted it and said “this isn’t 1990 Lynch Bages.” She had tasted 1990 Lynch Bages a number of times and she can identify wines she’s had multiple times remarkably well. Maureen tasted the wine, examined the bottle and agreed. The wine had been bought by the original owner, who was also at the dinner, at Costco just after release.
There is an ocean of fake wine. Be careful out there.
So counterfeiters were putting fake Bordeaux into the Costco distribution chain circa 1992-1993, 25 years ago? I’m no expert but that somehow seems a little unlikely to me…what are the chances of that vs bottle variation?
The wine wouldn’t have been sold to Costco until the late nineties or later and probably purchased around 1999 or 2000. The Costco model lends itself to this type of activity, just as it does in auction houses. Automatic big profit blinds some people.
I was responding to “The wine had been bought by the original owner, who was also at the dinner, at Costco just after release.”. In any case I am not an expert on distribution.
Another way to think about this might be to ask people how often they themselves have experienced a wine they believed to be counterfeit, in our own collections. Bottle variation and wishful thinking are such that it’s very hard to spot a counterfeit with any certainty; I’ve had “strange” bottles that were different than I expected certainly. But none that stood out as counterfeit. Not sure that proves anything though since I am hardly an authentication expert.
It would seem like the grey market offers a major way for counterfeit wines to enter the US distribution chain from Asia. But (as much as I hesitate to use this example around here) I purchased from Premier Cru for over a decade, the ultimate unscrupulous grey market distributor, and at least so far I have not experienced any wines from them that I believed at the time to be counterfeit.
Many people taste what they believe they should taste so taste may not be a reliable indicator. I tested this one day while working at a winery tasting room. The standard approach was to describe the wine prior to pouring. Really we were planting the idea of positive tastes in the customer’s heads in hopes of increasing their enjoyment and thus sales. So I decided one day to changed the standard descriptions and gave each customer a different description. The descriptions were not crazy off the wall flavors or smells but all included things I had never picked up in the wine in the year plus and hundreds of times I tasted them. Most if not all agreed with what I told them and many commented on aspects confirming that either they tasted what I told them to taste or they didn’t want to admit that they didn’t.
I know others have done similar studies with labels and how they impact people’s perceived appreciation of the wine.
I fell into this trap when the winemaker sent me home with two bottles to taste and report back. Both were light red and one was in a Boudreaux bottle and the other a burgundy. The one was light with a lot of cherry flavor. The other harder to pin down, more medium body with less acid. I thought both must be experimental pinot noir bottlings probably from potential new vineyards. Turns out the first was a cherry wine and the second was Chardonnay that was bottled right after the Cabernet and they decided not to change the filter; choosing to instead set the first three cases aside. My mind would never let me get there since the winery didn’t make fruit wines and since Chardonnay would never be red.
WOW!
If this doesn’t help you grasp that the scope of the issue is far beyond the top wins of the world, I do not know what will.
This is amazing!
Fraud scandal rocks France’s leading bulk bottler
“It is alleged that part of the fraud included passing off as much as 300,000 hectolitres (over 3m cases) of wine classified as Vin de France as Côtes du Rhône, Châteauneuf du Pape and other AOC.”
Here is another take:
French Wine Executive Arrested for Allegedly Turning Cheap Wine Into Châteauneuf-du-Pape
Police claim that Guillaume Ryckwaert illegally labeled bulk wine with prestigious Rhône appellations for three years
Wow, this might explain why I just don’t like most CNdPs anymore. People said my palate had just changed…I said I thought the wine was often inconsistent within the same vintage year, within the same producer. I’m guessing I was probably hit with at least of few of those 3M+ counterfeit bottles…
I guess the better question is this. Say we go to a name retailer in the US (not Acker) who buys either directly from estates or from authorized importers. Stores like MacArthurs in DC, Crush or Chambers Street in NY, K&L in SF or Envoyer in the LA area. Assume we stay with buying younger wines, how likely is it that the wines are fraudulent.
With older wines, my guess is that there is more risk as these stores buy wine from private collectors, like a lot of us (different with wines direct from wineries). But for younger wines bought through authorized importers and older wines direct from wineries, is there that much risk of fraud? Isn’t the bigger risk a wholesaler leaving wine on a dock during August?
I think that’s right, leaving aside fraud at the source, as in CdP and Brunello. I distinguish those cases – where the wine in the bottle is what the producer intended, even if it’s not as represented and is a fraud – from the fakes by the Rodenstocks and Kuriawans of the world.
A news article from a local NZ Newspaper about a wine fraud case involving NZ Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc.
that is a fascinating story, I would imagine that at that time COSTCO was not purchasing every wine from Bordeaux directly as they tend to do today, and of course it is too late now, but I would be so curious what the listed importer is.
Again, 25 years back, I am not stating with certainty- as my memory of COSTCO’s buying method at that time is not carved in my mind with absolute certainty. Today they are a large buyer of the En Primeur allocations, for the the 1990 vintage, I would imagine they were buying from 3rd parties.
Interesting that consumers are not more aware of the reliable ‘chain of custody’. Parker used to make lists of the importers you can rely on for temperature control and care, distributors and wholesalers can vary widely about every facet of care and provenance. It is surprising to me that it is not more commonly pursued who is reliable and trust worthy among consumers.
Lists should be published, resources of the reliable names…
Even though powerful forces within the industry do go to great lengths to cover up the dirt.
Less than a year ago we were offered a several million dollar list from a reliable source, that clearly was loaded with the Rudy K., Acker auction fine wines and asked to dispose of the wines with a discount. The fact that those wines are still sitting out there just waiting for a time and place or a person… to come along…
There is too much to lose for the owners of these wines… and it becomes hot potato…
Who offered you these wines, and where are the wines, now?
Boundaries? I have see all level of wines falsified - from JADOT Pouilly-Fuissé to, well, you know them all. As such, I no-longer buy anything at auction - all auction houses - though would make an exception wines direct from producers, but sorry, not from Acker, even if Liger-Belair or Dujac direct…
For me, only direct from the producer (I know I’m lucky here) or the latest vintage from their official importers - don’t forget, it’s not just about falsification, poor storage is just as bad because you are still not getting what you have paid for…
As I do not chase the big labels, the '47 Cheval Blancs, the '89 Haut Brions, I cannot say that I am distressed by what has been happening, though clearly would love to see it squashed. I’m more of a drinker than a collector, and bet that 95% of what I have would never be counterfeited, most of my wines are under $75. Think Baudry, Ridge, Gonon, Raffault, Sociando, etc. Sure I have some top-tier wines, like Classified Growths, but the majority I bought through futures. I’m guessing that the primary risk for me would be continuing to chase Rougeard, Juge (now $200 in grey market and going up), and perhaps soon, wines like Allemand. I buy zero wine at auction and only work with trusted retailers that buy from the sources. Not foolproof, but I have far too many other things to worry about in my life, including what John and Howard note, the risk of poor delivery and storage. Or my son having rave parties at my house, while my wife and I are on vacay, and him raiding the “cellar” again. I’m still missing some Willi and Prum . . . .
Interesting news story out of New Zealand.