Chinese counterfeiters swap moutai for knock-off through pinholes in bottles

Counterfeiters in China have adopted a new technique, drilling holes in bottles of moutai to replace the liquid with knock-off liquor.

Authorities in Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang province, recently seized a batch of moutai to investigate the Chinese baijiu.

As reported by The Straits Times, one of the regulatory offices of the Hangzhou Gongshu Market Superintend Management Bureau received a report from a merchant who suspected that the 95 bottles of Kweichow Flying Fairy Moutai he bought were not authentic, it said in a WeChat post on 12 December.

Holes hidden behind the back labels of the bottles were discovered by officers when they inspected five cases of the baijiu, amounting to a total of 30 bottles.

All 95 bottles were valued at 250,000 yuan (£27,571), it added.

Hair-thin pinholes were discovered, and 76 of the 95 bottles were deemed counterfeit following appraisal from the moutai distillery.

After removing the labels, the counterfeiters used professional equipment to drill 0.2mm holes in the moutai bottles after removing the labels, the appraisers from the distillery told China Consumer News. The holes were then plugged with porcelain powder and the labels replaced.

According to investigations, door-to-door salesmen sold the batch of counterfeit moutai to a company in Ningbo, a city in Zhejiang province. It was then supplied to the merchant who made the report.

The Ningbo police have arrested two suspects and investigations are under way, according to The Straits Times.

Counterfeiting continues to be a significant issue for the wine and spirits industry internationally.

Wine fraud expert Maureen Downey claims that counterfeiters are now mass-producing recent releases of wines and spirits, with little risk of criminal prosecution. 

db recently looked into how AI could help track and limit counterfeit wines, by tracing what’s in the bottle back to its origin. Read more on that story here.