| Domaine Romanee Conti (DRC) is the top Domaine of Burgundy, fetching astronomical prices at the auctions and specialty stores, especially for older vintages. They are considered one of the most expensive and collectible wines. At a special vertical tasting of DRC wines at the World Wine Symposium at Villa d’Este to be held on November 7-10 , first fifty people who register for the optional guided tasting with perhaps 20-30 mL of 6-7 wines to be tasted from this Domaine, would be happily shelling out €900 (Rs.75,000)! Romanee-Conti is produced on a small estate of just 1.8 ha (4 acres), making it highly exclusive and very expensive.
Two Italian wine merchants-a father and son duo have been arrested as they are suspected of selling 400 fake DRC bottles. However, the police and the vineyard owners suspect that there may be many more such fakes in the market.
French prosecutors who are seeking the extradition from Italy to France, say counterfeit labels were treated with wax to make them look older. The result was so good that the bottles were near-perfect copies of the real thing. According to the BBC Report French police started an investigation after DRC said it had become aware of inferior and fake copies being sold. Their investigation went to six European countries, including Britain and Italy to uncover the fraud. Fraudsters have reportedly already made up to €2m from the scam.
The prosecutors say counterfeit labels had been treated with wax to make them look older. The result has apparently been so good that the bottles were near-perfect copies of the real McCoy. The case may not have a direct bearing on the Indian market. But it does bring to mind a few cases in the past when some unscrupulous traders who could not sell some cheaper, unknown wines simply changed the labels on the bottles to the more popular ones and got rid of their stock. Though the cases were never reported, the customers, retailers and hoteliers need to keep an eye on such possibilities and the first such case ought to be reported to the police immediately so that such scams do not become a practice in future. |