It's a simple scam. Purchase old empty fine wine bottles, refill them with wine and sell them at a high prices to collectors and consumers.
This is the scam that wine counterfeiter Rudy Kurniawan was indicted for by a federal grand jury in New York, and sentenced to 10 years in jail.
Kurniawan was ordered to pay $20 million for his role in selling millions of dollar's worth of fake wine to unsuspecting collectors, who include billionaire William Koch.
Kurniawan claimed the counterfeits came from his $35 million collection of rare wines, and sold for up to $100,000 a bottle.
Kurniawan is described as a wizard at concocting fake wines by mixing and matching younger, less valuable wines that mimicked the taste, color and character of rare and expensive wines. Investigators found hundreds of rubber stamps for vintage dates, ranging from Chateau Latour 1899 to Screaming Eagle 1992, and empty bottles of fine and rare wines ready to be filled and "recycled."
A 2016 documentary, Sour Grapes, claims that as many as 10,000 bottles created by Kurniawan may still be in private collections. Undoubtedly, the bottles will continue to be traded and sold.
“In recent years we’ve seen a huge influx of fakes onto the U.S. market” says rare wine expert Maureen Downey. She adds, “It’s almost impossible to discern the difference between real and fake wine by taste alone.”
According to online service, Wine Authentication, with their disclaimer that there is no scientific authentication or accounting, are the 10 Most Counterfeited Wines listed below. Most of the wines listed below are found in magnum formats when counterfeit;
Cheval Blanc 1921
Cheval Blanc 1947
Lafite 1787 Thomas Jefferson (single bottle format)
Lafite 1870
Lafleur 1947
Lafleur 1950
Latour a Pomerol 1961
Margaux 1900
Petrus 1921
Petrus 1947
All consumers, not just collectors, should be aware of the ease and simplicity of re-bottling any wine and creating a counterfeit wine - inexpensive to vintage collectable.
The real 1975 Petrvs Pomerol on the left will fetch about $1,600.
The empty 1975 Petrvs Pomeral bottle on the right, found on eBay, could be refilled and corked by a fraudulent seller to deceive an unsuspecting collector.
Fraudulent sellers can easily find collectable empty vintage wine bottles from an online search of eBay, like this 1953 Chateau Mouton Rothschild Bordeaux.
Counterfeiters have been known to obtain empty bottles from fine restaurants.
Hundreds of listings for used wine corks from winerys around the world, from average to expensive wines, can be found on eBay.
There is no limit to the resources available to forward a counterfeit wine scam.
Topped with a heat shrink foil wine capsule available online in hundreds of colors and styles, the deceptive illusion is complete.
Wine buyers should be aware of the ease and simplicity of creating a counterfeit wine - inexpensive to vintage collectable
Think you can spot a fake collectable wine?
These counterfeit wines were featured in a CBS 60 Minutes special on counterfeit vintage wines.
This counterfeit was presented as a 1787 Chateau Lafite from late President Thomas Jefferson's cellar, and has initials ThJ etched in the glass.
Buyers paid up to $160,000 for the fake wines, later to learn Jefferson never engraved or owned the bottles.
A clever counterfeiter changed the cork from 1964 to 1961 to match this vintage 1961 Chateau Lafite Rothschild.
The bottle could command $3,500 from an unsuspecting collector. (Image CBS)
Big money draws clever criminals who can be very good at separating you from your money.
Always consult an expert on unknown collectables.
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