Fake Italian Wine

[badthings]

Nomisma claims the market for wine in the US is calculable, in terms of consumer dollars, at $5,445 million per annum, of which $397 million is spent on goods ‘made in Italy’. Phoney Italian wines sell to the tune of no less than $541 million dollars (of which at least $21 million is labelled DOC), a figure substantially higher than that achieved by the genuine article.

here

[Echezeaux]

A couple of years ago I visited a famous estate in Tuscany and complained about the exceedingly high prices charged by its US importer.

The owner felt since the demand exceeded the supply, he should not exert control over the importer's greedy pricing practices. I pointed out that when there is such an imbalance in pricing, this makes gray market purchases a more viable route, opening the door to conterfeiting.

The fellow's eyes grew big, for he had just that day received a hand-written letter from his US importer, complaining about gray market availability of some wines. The interesting thing was there was a company in Bordeaux offering 100 cases of a proprietary wine.

Even more interesting is the fact that the wine had only been released to the US importer and had not been sold by the winery at all in Europe. Yet someone had 100 cases to offer.

The dilemma for the winery owner, of course, was whether or not to go to the authorities and risk adverse publicity, or stay quiet and hope, at least, the Bordeaux folks had bottled something of good quality.

I believe he chose the latter route.

[pleiades]

zoinks! That's amazing. I hope my palate can tell the difference between Bordeaux and Chianti, but still.....

[Craig Camp]

Whoa- hold on here this is not what it seems..

Here is a more complete article: Click Here

What this study is talking about are products that look like they are Italian. Thus in this contest Kraft Parmesan cheese is a fraud because it uses a controlled Italian name and tries to look like it is Italian. Thus any wine with an Italian name and/or a package that tries to look Italian would also be considered a fraud. There are literally hundreds of wines they would consider fake that are very clear on the label that they are not produced in Italy. Gallo Paisano would qualify as a fraud to these people.

The stores are not full of fraudulent Italian wine.

[Echezeaux]

I, for one, view the brand name KRAFT on a food product as a warning label akin to the icon of a skull & crossbones, so I'm not sure I would agree with those contentions that this is a counterfeited product.

Many wine producers around the world have label or packaging designs replicating those classic producers' wine labels in Europe.

Unfortunately there's not much Italian investment in California to produce wine (save for Antinori's feeble attempts at Atlas Peak)...but look at the French firms which have invested in the U.S. -- They typically offer their products with labeling or packaging which, at the very least, resembles their French brands (or at least, tips their chapeaux in the direction of France).

What's the difference?

As for more devious deception: the Australian drinks firm which promotes Foster's (It's Australian for 'beer') sells Americans a beer that's "Imported". But it's brewed not in Australia, but Canada.

This is a lovely example of a "counterfeited" product, but it's been counterfeited by the people who own the brand!

[badthings]

Thanks, Craig, that makes much more sense.

As for more devious deception: the Australian drinks firm which promotes Foster's (It's Australian for 'beer') sells Americans a beer that's "Imported".  But it's brewed not in Australia, but Canada.

This is true of every commonly available "Japanese" beer too.

[Loris]

I agree with Craig, there are a lot of "imitations" but counteirfection is another thing.

This also means that Italian products are the best

Beverage is very big business and counteirfection exists in all kind of products.

This is an interesting article by WS