Who says Rudy can't fail?

Another interesting historical note. The wire mesh that wraps old-fashioned Riojas was apparently invented in the 2nd half of the 19th C by the Marques de Riscal to prevent pernicious refilling of bottles of his cult wines.

Or so say Barquín, Gutiérrez, and VS.
 
Has there been any word of newly released wines being counterfeited?

If not, at what young age (of the wines) does the counterfeiting typically begin?

. . . . . Pete
 
Interesting!

It's hard to imagine how that shabby piece of counterfeiting got by any knowledgeable wine purveyors.

The profit margin for the counterfeiter in this case seems awfully small considering the potential penalties if caught.

. . . . . Pete
 
originally posted by Jay Miller:
And don't forget:

Jacob's Creek
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Two great things from that:

1) "While the contents of the fake Jacob’s Creek is of ‘substandard taste’"

hahahaha

and 2) "He said the only obvious sign of fraud was the missing ‘A’ in the spelling of ‘Australia’"

I'm sure I would struggle to forge a Chinese label.
 
originally posted by SFJoe:
originally posted by Jay Miller:
And don't forget:

Jacob's Creek
Click to expand...
Two great things from that:

1) "While the contents of the fake Jacob’s Creek is of ‘substandard taste’"

hahahaha

and 2) "He said the only obvious sign of fraud was the missing ‘A’ in the spelling of ‘Australia’"

I'm sure I would struggle to forge a Chinese label.
Click to expand...
The first letter?
Just use a photocopier.

Pete, faking expensive bottles is just the luxury end of wine fraud. Adulteration, copying everday wine , etc. leaves plenty of profit for fraudsters.

The fakers of everday wine seem harder to catch.
 
originally posted by SFJoe:
Long profile of Maureen Downey in SF Weekly today.
Click to expand...
One of her co-workers, a man named Chung, offers this insane tidbit:

"Rudy opened up this bottle of 1947 Cheval Blanc. It was a spectacularly beautiful wine, and I still have no idea if it was authentic," says Chung. "It didn't really matter, to be honest."

and one of her clients, a man named Gregory, adds:

"There's something romantic about drinking the best wines on earth," he muses. "Even if the wine wasn't what it said on the label, I still had a great time."

Neither drank the raison d'etre wine yet he congratulates himself on the wonderful experience. Delusional.
 
Pete, you might also google "china wine counterfeit".

A friend was in Seoul on business recently and said that the availability of fake fancy wine was quite remarkable. 1941 Petrus!
 
The only problem with The Recognitions was that something strange (too many translation projects? too many hours at the bookshop? life?) interfered with my reading. I loved the first third or so that I did manage to read. I think now that over-employment will again turn to under-employment or employment with the United Nations (forgive the bad pun), this will be the first book I'll return to.
 
originally posted by Jeff Grossman:
originally posted by SFJoe:
Long profile of Maureen Downey in SF Weekly today.
Click to expand...
One of her co-workers, a man named Chung, offers these insane tidbits:

"Rudy opened up this bottle of 1947 Cheval Blanc. It was a spectacularly beautiful wine, and I still have no idea if it was authentic," says Chung. "It didn't really matter, to be honest."

and

"There's something romantic about drinking the best wines on earth," he muses. "Even if the wine wasn't what it said on the label, I still had a great time."

He didn't drink the raison d'etre wine yet he congratulates himself on the wonderful experience. Delusional.
Click to expand...
Jeff,
Certainly interesting quotes highlighting the schizophrenia apparently inherent in these 'super' events but the quotes were not from the same person: the first from Chung and the second from Gregory.
 
Thanks, Jeff! Those articles are of interest, especially the first one.

I had forgotten about some of the fraudulent activities with more current wines.

Whew!!

. . . . . Pete
 
In a way, it's a smarter play to gain pennies on a million bottles than to gain thousands on a case of twelve: the folks paying $10/bottle aren't likely to know any better and aren't going to sue for it, whereas the savant who plunks $50k for Chateau X is more likely to know what he's buying and to make sure he gets it.

Dishonesty is a difficult profession.
 
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