French and Italian police said they had dismantled an international fraud network that was passing off bottles of poor quality wine as vintage, each worth up to €15,000 (£12,500).
Six people – including a Russian national who is the suspected ringleader – were arrested in Paris, Turin and Milan.
They allegedly manufactured fake labels representing famous French vineyards, which were then sold at full market value through wine merchants around the world.
French prosecutors said the group earned two million euros from the fraud.
A French national has been charged with organized fraud and money laundering.
Prosecutors said the suspected leader of the group, a 40-year-old Russian national, will also be charged.
In a press release, Europol said that items seized during the seizures included “a large quantity of counterfeit bottles of wine from various Grand Cru ranges, wine labels and wax products, wine refilling components, technical machines for refilling bottles, and luxury goods,” as well as equipment. Electronics worth 1.4 million euros and more than 100,000 euros in cash.
Wine fraud has been around since the invention of wine.
Until a few years ago, in France, it was at a fairly manageable level – a few dedicated connoisseurs forged labels and wax seals in order to pass off basic wines as something more exquisite.
But over the past decade, things have changed.
The prices fetched for the best wines on the world market are now so high – thousands of pounds a bottle – that it has become profitable to conduct fraud in a more organized manner.
The center of this type of fraud is said to be Italy. That’s because they have winemaking experience there: artisans who understand old labeling, bottles and corks; And also the criminal underworld ready to invest.
Today, one wine auctioneer told me, counterfeiting old bottles and labels is so clever that even the vineyards themselves are often unable to spot the fakes.
And with some buyers storing wine for years, they may never discover it’s fake.
With international buyers, especially in China, willing to spend £20,000 or more on a high-quality bottle, the criminal temptation to make the perfect bottle – and then fill it with rubbish – is one that some cannot resist.
