Fake bottle scam hits China

Counterfeiters are collecting empty bottles of celebrated wines and refilling them to swindle rich Chinese investors.

The Chinese are especially attracted to certain brands, with a particular favourite being Château Lafite Rothschild 1982, which often sells for over £2,000 a bottle at auction.

"We only collect Lafite and Maotai,” one Beijing-based bottle dealer, known only as Mr Huang, told The Daily Telegraph. "We pay in cash and can collect from the seller. We’re offering 2,900 yuan (£282) for a good (empty) vintage bottle of Lafite Rothschild.

"We’ll offer 100 yuan less for the Carruades de Lafite," he added. Huang explained that they collected the empty bottles from bars and restaurants in Shanghai and Beijing.

It is currently peak season for the counterfeiters as China’s most important holiday, Chinese New Year, approaches and people are keen to celebrate in style.  

China has now become the world’s fastest-growing wine market where people like to be seen to be drinking the appropriate brand. A case of Château Lafite 2009 sold for £43,000 in Hong Kong last year – three times more than it would have cost in London.

"We have definitely opened a bottle that was a fake," Adam Bilbey, at the Hong Kong offices of Berry Bros & Rudd, told The Daily Telegraph. 

"Inside, there was a big hefty red from the south of France. Not a bad wine, actually, but not what it was supposed to be."

Laura Pullman, 13.01.2011