Counterfeit Wine is Big Business!
The black market in fake high-end wine is a multi-billion-dollar cottage industry... albeit illegal. Selling counterfeit wine can make you super wealthy if you're willing to take the risk.
Arrested in 2012, Rudy Kurniawan is one of the largest wine counterfeiters of our time. Between 2002 and 2012, Rudy sold at least $130 million worth of counterfeit wine. During Rudy's trial, it was revealed that one bottle of fake Château Mouton-Rothschild 1945 was sold for $45,259 and six bottles of bogus Domaine Georges Roumier Bonnes Mares 1923 were sold for $95,000. When the feds invaded Rudy's home in March of 2012, they found over 18,000 phony wine labels. Some claim Rudy and his associates saturated the high-end wine market with so many fakes that it may have forever skewed expert knowledge of legitimate vintages.
How are Fake Wines Discovered?
Meet Maureen Downey, the founder of WineFraud.com. She is a fine wine authenticator and counterfeit wine private investigator. Maureen was instrumental in bringing down Rudy Kurniawan's illicit wine operation. Forensic wine experts like Maureen have developed a wide range of techniques for determining a wine's authenticity, such as,
- Measuring a bottle's air space between the cork and wine;
- Cataloging legitimate labeling;
- Identifying marks on a cork; and,
- Cataloging bottle-sizes for specific vintages.
The Art of Fake Wine
It's said that as much as 80% of the world's current inventory of French Wine produced prior to 1985 is counterfeit.
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