Fake and fraudulent wines have existed for many years, but the Rudy Kurniawan case really set focus on this problem, and while this case mainly involve some very rich collectors, there seem to be a more worrying tendency where fake bottles of expensive wines in new vintages are seen on the market.
Several top end estates are now taken measures that makes it more difficult to copy the bottles and labels, but it is becoming an issue that should be taken into account, if one is buying expensive wines from unauthorized sources (non importer) on a regular basis – weather you are a private costumer or a wine merchant.
The expertise in authentication of bottles is in my view sadly lacking in many cases, and while I’m not an expert in this, even so-called known experts on occasion turn to me to ask questions about labels and older wines. This is for me an indication that the level of expertise is not as good as claimed by some, and in many cases not as good as it should be.
I would turn to a real expert myself – if I had the need to authenticate a rare and expensive bottle – and not rely on my own expertise.
Authentication resources and training
One of the leading experts is Maureen Downey, who is running Chai Consulting and WineFraud.com, she is one of the experts that I would turn to myself, if I was unsure of the validity of a bottle.
Maureen’s WineFraud.com offers tools and resources that enables you – to a certain degree – to check validity of the bottles yourself, and furthermore she makes seminars where private collectors and people in the trade can learn the fundamentals of authentication of wines using the resources and tools offered.
This is of course not free of charge – I know – but if one is buying or trading expensive wines for a large amount each year and even each month – it’s probably worth looking into the possibilities to raise the level of knowledge and skills, and to take some authentication training and get access to some resources that will give at least some basic skills to avoid the worst fake bottles circulating in the market.
Seminars in Hong Kong and London
Maureen Downey and her team are currently conducting seminars in both Hong-Kong and London (May 2017) where collectors and people from the trade can learn the basics, and get an insight into the online resources offered by WineFraud.com, as well as learn more about the new Chai Wine Vault by Everledger, the first ever blockchain based solution to tracking and assuring authenticity and provenance of wine bottles.
The next seminar is held in Hong Kong on February 7th to February 9th, and this seminar includes Wine Fraud & Counterfeiting Presentations, where the basics are explained- see the full program and details.
Furthermore there are Level 1 and Level 2 authentication training sessions where you can work with the authentication tools and methods – The Chai Method™ systematic approach to fine wine authentication – and do a full authentication training yourself to be familiar with the process – enabling you to do a thorough basic validation yourself. Check out the testimonials and pictures from the last seminar recently held in London.
While I’m not in the trade myself, I do find these seminars very interesting, as I find a need to increase the skills in all levels of the wine business. It’s in my view still too easy to circulate fraudulent bottles in the market, and quite a lot of people are innocently passing these wines around without knowingly committing a fraudulent sale.
This is not for all collectors – but if one buy a lot of +500 Euro bottles from different sources then most likely it would be a good idea to check out the resources and the education available in the market – and one is these WineFraud and Authentication Seminars.