| Abstract: |
A recent article published by Forbes alleging that China is facing an “epidemic” of fake wines is causing a stir in the drinks trade with key trade organisations including The Interprofessional Council of Bordeaux (CIVB) and the China Association of Imports and Exports for Wines & Spirits refuting figures cited in the original article. Look closely: these are not Château Lafite Rothschild, instead they are wines from a Chinese company bearing the same transliterated name of the Bordeaux first growth, displayed at Chengdu Wine Fair in March this year. Citing CIVB as a source, the article claimed that 30,000 bottles of fake imported wines are sold per hour in China – which would amount to 262.8 million in a year, more than half total wine imports to the country, which reached 478.5m bottles in 2016. But when contacted by dbHK for a comment, the council’s representative for China, Thomas Jullien, confirmed that the CIVB published no such figures on counterfeit wines. “ The CIVB gives no figures on counterfeiting. |
