After luxury bags comes counterfeit luxury wines

Is that a Petrus in your Prada bag, or are you trying to impress me with a knock-off? Fine wines such as Petrus and Chateau d'Yquem are the latest fashion brands to be targeted by counterfeiters looking to make a buck from those who want to be seen to have the best — but don't always want to pay for it. Trafficking in fake vintage wine has "always existed a little, but it's definitely amplified with the rising prices of fine wines", said Sylvain Boivert, director of the Conseil des Grands Crus Classes en 1855. Jeroboams (the equivalent of four bottles) of the 1945 vintage from the Romanee-Conti estate in Burgundy, one of the world's scarcest and most expensive wines, have recently been sold in auctions, according to Laurent Ponsot, a renowned Burgundy producer. Alas, Romanee-Conti did not bottle their 1945 in Jeroboams. Counterfeiters use methods such as photocopied labels, or different chateau names on the capsule and the label. Sometimes the bottle is authentic but doesn't contain the wine or the vintage indicated, or only partially, the level of the wine having been topped off with another wine by using a syringe.