Above: fake wine about to be crushed!
France’s anti-fraud body has just uncovered a huge scam in which a merchant tried to sell more than 48 million litres of wine falsely labelled as Cotes-du-Rhone.
The fraud encompassed the equivalent of 13 Olympic-sized swimming pools full of wine.
About 20 million litres of the fake Cotes-du-Rhone were offered for sale between 2013 and 2016 through the scam, including one million litres bearing the prestigious Chateauneuf-du-Pape name.
Investigators seized a 100,000-litre vat of the latter wine.
Unfortunately I cannot confirm the the merchants name, but he is up for preliminary charges of fraud and deception.
He was freed on a one million euro ($AU1.593 million) bail and banned from working at his company.
So how do you detect fake wine? Here are 10 things to watch for.
1. Check if the bottle size was ever produced. Was that magnum ever produced by the wine maker?
2. Check the label colour. Its possible that the colour of the label has little or no resemblance to the real one.
3. Read the small print. If the print over prints on the label then it is likely to be a fake because all wine labels are part of a standard matrix.
4. Check the facts. Study the wording carefully. It may provide facts that are false. Was that bottle of Penfolds Grange Hermitage made in 1949?
5. Showing its age. Counterfeiters use all manner of techniques to make that shiny new label look its (false) age. Staining from tobacco, dirt and so on are typical signs.
6. Sticky glue around the edges. Be wary of glue stains around label edges, in nicks and tears, and under capsules – all suspicious signs.
7. Capsules. If the capsule has multiple creases, it’s probably been reapplied. Other giveaway are thumb prints on wax capsules, residue left from a previous closure and the name on the top of the capsule does not match the winemaker.
8. Always check the cork. Most corks are typically 51-55 mm long, and are branded, rather than inked. Check for ‘Ah-so’ marks – the grooves left in the side of a cork by my favourite cork extractor – a two-pronged cork puller. Look for dirt under the capsule masking the cork.
9. Sediment. Wine sediment is hard to fake, so check for its presence, size and general appearance. Is it too chunky? Some fake sediment sparkles like glitter when you hold it to the light.
10. Spelling errors. The most obvious of all. Read the label and back label carefully. If there is a spelling error it will more than likely be a fake.
Make a comment. Does anyone have a fake wine story to tell us about?
