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| People’s Republic of China |
During the massive IP enforcement campaign “Bright Sword” police cracked down in Beijing, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Guizhou in 40 cases involving the production and selling of fake alcohol. China Daily wrote: “March 23 to 25, police raided 272 production and sales outlets nationwide and found more than 300 devices used for counterfeiting as well as over 13.5 million pieces of forged packaging materials, such as bottle caps, labels and boxes of well-known brands. Meanwhile, more than 30 tons of bulk wines and 13.5 million fake bottles, caps and labels worth up to 2 billion yuan (US$ 306 million) were also seized by police.” Read here.
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| Hong Kong Special Administrative Region |
It is estimated that five percent of all wines in China are counterfeit. Is Chateau Le Tromperie on sale, instead of the label that is on the bottle? According to an article by Alexandra Lages for the Macau Daily Times: “Hong Kong’s expert Simon Tam recently alerted that the HKSAR newly-gained reputation as the wine-trading hub must be protected against fakes in the market. Tam said that the problem is not serious yet, but urged authorities to act fast.”
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| Macau Special Administrative Region |
In China, Hong Kong and Macau wine drinking has only recently become en vogue. Thus not everybody has the knowledge yet of what taste a certain wine should have. If it smells like paint remover it is clear, but the difference between a bulk wine and some special wine can be more subtle. And it is well known that it is near impossible to find out before buying some vintage wine whether the bottle is real but its content might be not. There is a luctrative trade in real bottles. As Peter Shadbolt points out Chateau Lafite bottles can fetch 1,500 US dollar on the black market in China. He quotes Fongyee Walker, a Beijing-based wine consultant with Dragon Phoenix Fine Wines. Ms Walker makes it clear that gifting is bad for a brand. Because if someone receives a counterfeit wine as a gift and recognises it as a counterfeit, chances are that he or she in turn will give it to someone as a gift, etc. See here.
The Chinese peoples unfamiliarity with wine hides a much bigger truth; 5% counterfeit wine seems to be a gross underestimate. The figure must be nearer 20-30% or more. In my own experience, buying red wine in both mainland China and now Macau, 50% of the bottles that I've purchased have been fake (Not wine at all, but some other strange and possibly hazardous liquid that just looks and smells a bit like red wine)!
That Would be "Château La Tromperie"