Counterfeit wine

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Château Pétrus is a victim of frequent forgeries.
Also Sassicaia is plagiarized.
Up to $ 500 is paid for empty Lafite bottles.

A wine is counterfeited when a wine is deliberately and fraudulently labeled incorrectly - with regard to its identity, its ingredients and / or its origin. These counterfeit wines usually affect the renowned wineries in France , Italy and Germany , but also top wineries in the New World of Wine . Younger vintages are forged more often than more mature vintages.

Incorrect ingredients can be harmless or dangerous substances. Examples of the former include glycerin , ethanol , sugar , acids , dyes, and water . Hazardous substances can be substances that increase the sweetness such as lead (II) acetate and diethylene glycol or methanol .

history

Counterfeit wines have existed since viticulture has existed. Homer wrote in the 8th century BC In addition to sulphurisation , the addition of spices and perfuming substances to the wine, which at that time was not considered to be adulteration. In his work De agri cultura , Marcus Porcius Cato the Elder already disseminated around 150 BC. Chr. Instructions for the production of artificial wine. Even Lucius Junius Columella Moderatus was evidence for the preparation of synthetic wine in 12 books from farming. Of Palladius the "Opus Agriculturae" is obtained in which he Recipes for fining indicates. All of these works were created at a time when wine production was barely regulated or not at all, so no intent to fraud can be assumed.

What is today considered to be wine adulteration according to European standards was in individual cases still widely practiced a few decades ago, such as wet sugaring according to Ludwig Gall . Even today, some technologies are regulated differently in different countries. Three examples of this are the legal provisions regarding enrichment, acidification / deacidification and sweetening, which are still regulated differently within the EU in different wine-growing zones . Similarly, a number of practices that are still common today have emerged from necessity or were originally part of wine counterfeiting. The Trier Viez , today an apple wine, was formerly a "Vice-Wine" made from the second infusion of already squeezed marc or spent grain residues . The barrique technique , which is now fully recognized, has its origins in the attempt to give new wines a nobler, older taste by adding oak chips or moving them to old barrels. Similarly, port wine arose from the practice of adding neutral alcohol to wine during fermentation, which stopped the fermentation process and the port could be stored for significantly longer, even during long sea voyages.

A well-known case of wine counterfeiting was the glycol wine scandal of 1985.

The counterfeiting activities have been driven in the last few years by the extremely increasing exchange of and increased attention to rare wines by means of internet trading and internet auctions . The search for bargains and for alternative investments in view of the low interest rates on the capital market have encouraged wine investments, even by non-specialist investors. The prestige associated with the wines is also associated with the respective owner as a supposed wine connoisseur.

Prestigious wine has been counterfeited on a large scale for decades. The American magazine “ Wine Spectator ” sees the scandal surrounding the “wine merchant” Rudy Kurniawan, known as “Dr. Conti ”because of its affinity to the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti , only the tip of an iceberg uncovered.

Development, diffusion and extent

The Handelsblatt estimates that an average annual return of eleven percent can be achieved even with original Bordeaux wines. Luxury foods are more often counterfeited in countries where there are poor or no wine controls. The controls in the wine sector are regulated in Regulation (EC) No. 2729/2000 of December 14, 2000.

Wines with a high image and / or price are particularly at risk of forgery . In rich countries, counterfeits of new expensive so-called lifestyle wines are most common. The detection of a forgery is relatively unlikely. The time of purchase and the reason for consumption are often far apart, so that counterfeiters have mostly assumed a new identity. As a rule, doubts about authenticity only arise once the wine is in the glass. The wine often tastes too young compared to the vintage indicated on the label. To a court usable certificate of authenticity issue we need to review many years of experience, comprehensive organoleptic skills and / or the analysis by isotope analysis in comparison with the official EU wine database. The influence of improper storage makes the analysis more difficult. In case of poor storage, possibly recognizable by the level of the bottle, the contents may be spoiled.

Manufacturing

One of the main reasons for the increased occurrence of wine copies is the improvement in technical possibilities for counterfeiting. Ignorance, high prices for fine wines and a lack of in-house expertise prompt consumers, often in developing and emerging countries, to organize their products outside of the usual supply system. This leads to cases where in China already empty bottles from Château Lafite-Rothschild are paid USD 500 in order to be able to sell them again with dubious contents. Food counterfeiting is a lucrative business because demand is high and production costs are low. The production of counterfeits only requires a simple infrastructure and can therefore take place in ordinary households or in backyards and garages, for example.

In many countries, the manufacturers of counterfeit goods hardly take any risks, as the penalties provided there by law - if any - are minimal. Wine control regulations are rare and often only developed in the producing countries. In countries without a dedicated wine control therefore forgeries are most often placed on the market .

Role of the internet

In industrialized countries, counterfeit wines are mainly offered and sold on the Internet. The online mail order business for wines is booming. However, fraudsters are difficult to distinguish from reputable providers. Due to the turnover rate, the sellers themselves often do not know that they owned a counterfeit.

Dangers to the consumer

In the best case, the regular consumption of fake wines leads to no impairment or only to a lack of emotional benefit. However, unexpected side effects , allergic reactions or a deterioration in the state of health can also occur. In the worst case, counterfeit wine can lead to blindness and under certain circumstances even death. Lead (II) acetate , known as lead sugar, was used as a sugar substitute ( defrutum ) until the 19th century, despite its toxicity - it was used to sweeten wine in particular .

literature

  • Christopher Fielden: The Wine Fraud. Etiquette and content. Müller Rüschlikon, Cham 1991, ISBN 3-275-01015-8 .
    • Original title: Is This the Wine You Ordered, Sir - The Dark Side of the Wine Trade. Christopher Helm, London 1989, ISBN 0-7470-1013-7 , translation by Daniela Brechbühl.
  • Rudolf Rieger: The treatment of counterfeit wine (white and red wine) in criminal law. Meininger Verlag, Neustadt an der Weinstrasse, 1950, Mainz, law and economics dissertation dated December 9, 1950.
  • Rudolf Rieger: The counterfeiting of wine in criminal law. Meininger Verlag, Neustadt an der Weinstrasse, 1950 (Weinblatt library for those who work in the wine trade. Bdch. 12.)
  • Lukas Clemens, Michael Matheus: Wine counterfeiting in the Middle Ages and at the beginning of the early modern period. In: Wrong and Right. Crime and Society in Transition from 1500 to 2000. Ed. By H.-G. Börek. Koblenz 2002, pp. 570-581.
  • Jancis Robinson : Oxford Wine Lexicon ("Oxford Companion to Wine"). therein article: Wine adulteration and adulteration. Hallwag, Munich, 2007, pp. 805-806, ISBN 3-7742-0914-6

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Sassicaia 1997: Original and forgery in comparison In: "Die Welt" of September 29, 2011, accessed on February 9, 2014
  2. ↑ a b Capital, edition 02/2014, p. 140
  3. ↑ Christopher Fielden: The wine fraud Müller Rüschlikon, Cham, 1991, ISBN 3275010158
  4. ↑ Ancient Wines In: Wein-Plus, accessed on February 9, 2014
  5. ^ Otto Schönberger (Ed.): Vom Landbau. Fragments. All writings preserved. Tusculum, Darmstadt / Munich 1980, p. 422.
  6. ↑ Will Richter (Ed.): Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella: Twelve books on agriculture. Book of a stranger on tree cultivation, Tusculum, Munich 1981
  7. ↑ Michael Matheus: Wine production and wine consumption in the Middle Ages Historical geography. Publications of the Institute for Historical Regional Studies at the University of Mainz, vol. 51, 2004
  8. ↑ Peter Christa: Dictionary of the Trier dialect. Honnef a. Rh. 1927
  9. ↑ a b J. Robinson (Ed.): "The Oxford Companion to Wine" Third Edition, Oxford University Press 2006, ISBN 0-19-860990-6 , pp. 424-425.
  10. ↑ a b Jürgen Röder: Ripening returns. Handelsblatt, January 31, 2014, accessed on February 9, 2014 .
  11. ↑ a b Manfred Klimek : Tens of thousands for wine - it's worth forging. Die Welt, May 31, 2012, accessed February 9, 2014 .
  12. ↑ Mitch Frank: Rudy Kurniawan Could Be the Tip of a Fake Wine Crisis. Are counterfeits a victimless crime? Not when they rob us of the pleasure wine can deliver. Wine Spectator, December 18, 2013, accessed February 9, 2014 .
  13. ↑ REGULATION (EC) No. 2729/2000 OF THE COMMISSION of 14 December 2000 with implementing provisions for controls in the wine sector Official portal on EU law
  14. ↑ Norbert Christoph: Assessment of the authenticity of wine by means of stable isotope analysis. Bavarian State Office for Health and Food Safety , February 8, 2012, accessed on February 9, 2014 .