| Abstract: |
Wine lovers of the world will be aghast to hear that creating counterfeit bottles of rare vintages to sell for a vast profit has never been easier. This week, a BBC Radio 4 documentary, The Wine Detectives, will delve into the secrets of a practice blighting the fine wine industry. Counterfeiting is so lucrative that fakes may represent up to a fifth of the fine wine market. A favoured technique of those dealing in this illicit trade is to buy original bottles and corks on the internet, fill them with similar, cheaper substitutes, seal them and sell them on to unsuspecting collectors. The process is tricky, and to get it right, costly, but with some wines fetching tens of thousands of pounds, the appeal, and outlay, makes perfect sense. |
