Wine has been treasured for millennia. It has been poured at banquets, sipped in celebration, and cherished as a mark of place and tradition. But where there’s prestige, there’s always someone looking to fake it. Would you be able to spot a fake wine? We’d all like to think we could, but the range of scams is sophisticated and growing.
In ancient Rome, traders would “improve” sour wine with lead acetate which is sweet on the palate but deadly in the long run. In 19th-century Europe, barrels of beet sugar, elderberry juice, and suspicious dyes were passed off as fine Bordeaux. Even geography became a tool for trickery with humble Languedoc wines sold under the grander name of Médoc.
Today, the stakes and the scams have grown. For collectors, a single bottle can be worth more than a car, and counterfeiters like the infamous Rudy Kurniawan have made fortunes by forging labels, refilling rare bottles, and inventing pedigrees. His audacious scheme, and eventual downfall, is chronicled in the documentary Sour Grapes, a fascinating true-crime film. I loved it. Well worth watching to see just how far people are prepared to go.
The wine world has fought back, using both tradition and technology. Strict appellation systems like France’s AOC and Italy’s DOCG, protect regional authenticity, while European Union rules give them legal teeth. Producers now add tamper-proof seals, QR codes, and holograms to track bottles from vineyard to glass in a bid to beat the fraudsters. In addition, laboratories can now test a wine’s chemical “fingerprint” to verify its origin, and some wineries are turning to blockchain for a transparent, unchangeable record of every step.
DOCG labels provide a unique number for every bottle produced by an estate and show if a seal has been tampered with. Examples from Azienda Agricola Cagliero and Marchesi di Grésy in Piedmont shown here.
Some wineries, like Torrevento in Puglia, are experimenting with QR codes and blockchain verification.
At Vino Cammino, the provenance of our wine is fundamental to our business and building trust with our valued customers. We work directly with trusted French and Italian female producers, ensuring every bottle we import carries not just its true regional identity, but also the traditions and craftsmanship behind it. We’ve met and visited each of our producers and count them as our friends as much as our suppliers. We taste most of the wines we order, either in bottle or in barrel, depending on the time of our visits. No shortcuts, just genuine French and Italian wine, delivered directly to us so we know what’s in each bottle.
Has the industry beaten the cheats? Not quite. In regulated markets, everyday fraud is quite rare, but the high-end auction scene remains a playground for the ambitious counterfeiter. As long as rare vintages fetch crazy prices, someone will try to fake them.
Nevertheless, thanks to sharper laws, smarter science, and a global wine community that’s more alert than ever, the odds are tipping in favour of the genuine article. And that’s something worth raising a (genuine) glass to.