A Guide to Wine, Food & the Good Life
To subscribe and be notified anytime we post a new article, enter your email address in the box below, then click on Subscribe Now.

Underground Wine Line

Similar Articles:

  1. Vintage Tastings – A Day at the Tilsons
  2. Vintage Tastings – A Top Ten for 2023
  3. ED LAZARUS - ONE OF A KIND
  4. JIM CLENDENEN REMEMBERED
  5. STUPID WINE DESCRIPTIONS
  6. DENNIS FOLEY, RENOWNED FIGURE IN THE WORLD OF RARE WINE, PASSED AWAY AT THE AGE OF 74
  7. STUPID WINE DESCRIPTIONS
  8. HAPPY NEW YEAR 2020!
  9. SURPRISE WINNING WINE IN THE INTERNATIONAL WINE TASTING COMPETITION OF THE CENTURY
  10. WINE & TRUTH
  11. 2018 STUPID WINE DESCRIPTION WINNERS
  12. ATTENTION WINE DRINKERS: THIS BUD’S FOR YOU!
  13. HAPPY NEW YEAR!
  14. BURGUNDY 2018
  15. WHAT DO NUMBERS HAVE TO DO WITH IT?
  16. THE ROSÉ PARADE
  17. BOOK ON ROBERT LAWRENCE BALZER PUBLISHED BY UNDERGROUND'S CONTRIBUTING EDITOR CHRISTINE GRAHAM
  18. A NATIONAL CONTEST TO SEE WHICH 100 POINT WINE WRITER HAS THE MOST CREATIVE WINE DESCRIPTIONS
  19. 2017 STUPID WINE DESCRIPTION WINNERS
  20. HAPPY NEW YEAR 2018!
  21. NEWS FLASH – HAS FAKE NEWS TAKEN OVER THE WINE GAME?
  22. 2016 STUPID WINE DESCRIPTION AWARD WINNERS AND MORE!
  23. HAPPY NEW YEAR 2017!
  24. BURGUNDY – 2016 VISIT
  25. YIKES! THE 1000 POINT WINE SCORE IS HERE
  26. CHAMPAGNE DAY 2016
  27. OUTSTANDING OLD MARSANNAY ROSÉS
  28. A MONTE BELLO TOAST TO PAUL DRAPER
  29. THE PERILS OF FARMING – MOTHER NATURE DEVESTATES BURGUNDY
  30. DO YOU KNOW WHAT TIME OF YEAR IT IS ON THE WINE CALENDAR?
  31. THE DAILY MEAL WINERY AWARDS
  32. STUPID WINE DESCRIPTION OF THE YEAR?
  33. HAPPY NEW YEAR 2016!
  34. ENCORE: DEAR SANTA, WE’VE GOT A LITTLE LIST
  35. BACK TO THE FUTURE
  36. A VIEW OF THE 2015 BURGUNDY VINTAGE IN ADVANCE OF THE ANNUAL UNDERGROUND WINELETTER TRIP TO BURGUNDY TO TASTE THE 2014S
  37. I HATE TO TELL YOU “I TOLD YOU SO” BUT “I TOLD YOU SO!”
  38. WHAT’S IN YOUR WINE GLASS?
  39. MORE ON BIB WINE
  40. THE JUDGMENT OF MOSCOW
  41. ROSÉ WINES AND THE GREAT ROSÉS OF PROVENCE
  42. A SHOT OUT OF THE BLUE: WE HAVE A NEW ENTRY IN THE WINE INGREDIENT LABELING DERBY
  43. PREMOX: “WHEREFORE ART THOU?”
  44. HAPPY NEW YEAR 2015!
  45. PREVIEW: ALONG THE BUGUNDY TRAIL VINTAGE 2013
  46. CAUTION! WHAT’S IN YOUR WINE?
  47. FOR THE LOVE OF ROSÉS
  48. THE BEST WINERIES IN AMERICA - THE TOP 4 ARE FROM CALIFORNIA'S CENTRAL COAST!
  49. STOP THE PRESSES! THERE IS A NEW SCORING SYSTEM!
  50. WINE WRITING – WHAT IS IT?
  51. POLYESTER WINES
  52. HAPPY NEW YEAR 2014!
  53. THE UNDERGROUND IS BACK!
  54. CALLING TIME OUT
  55. ROSÉ - IT’S TIME HAS COME
  56. ARE NUTRITIONAL LABELS COMING TO ALCOHOLIC DRINKS?
  57. THE BLENDING GAME: ROSÉ & MORE
  58. ATTENTION ALL WINE CONSUMERS: WINE INGREDIENT LABELING IS HERE!
  59. EXCLUSIVE NEWS FLASH!
  60. THE GREATER FOOL?
  61. DOMAINE ALBERT GRIVAULT
  62. TASTING WINE VS. DRINKING WINE - IS THERE A DIFFERENCE?
  63. A PAIR TO DRAW TO & A GUIDE FOR WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN WINES THAT ARE FOOD FRIENDLY, BALANCED, AND CAPABLE OF AGING FOR AN EXTENDED TIME
  64. HAPPY NEW YEAR 2013!
  65. THE UNDERGROUND HISTORY AS WE BRIEFLY LOOK BACK AND THEN CONTINUE TO FOCUS ON THE FUTURE
  66. BYE BYE BIG KAHUNA
  67. A LOOK AT NV CHAMPAGNE – IS IT REALLY DIFFERENT THIS TIME?
  68. FAKE WINES IN CHINA - THE BEAT GOES ON
  69. 2011 BURGUNDY – THE SURPRISE VINTAGE
  70. THE MARRIAGE BLEND
  71. LOOKING FOR OLD WINE WITH IMPECCABLE PROVENANCE?
  72. WINE FRAUD AND A WINE DETECTIVE - THE STORY OF DON CORNWELL
  73. HISTORIC VINEYARD SOCIETY
  74. DON’T GET YOUR KNICKERS IN A TWIST!
  75. THE BLENDING GAME - IS IT TIME FOR THREE BUCK CHUCK?
  76. EVERYTHING YOU HAVE BEEN DYING TO KNOW ABOUT NEWLY RELEASED CALIFORNIA CHARDONNAYS!
  77. COUNTERFEIT WINE AND THE ROLE OF CHINA
  78. THE JUDGMENT OF PRINCETON
  79. WHEN TO TASTE, DRINK, & ENJOY YOUNG WINES & WHAT ABOUT ROSÉ?
  80. THE VINEYARD OR THE WINEMAKING? WHAT REALLY MATTERS?
  81. BLENDING GAME PREVIEW
  82. PREDICTING THE FUTURE!
  83. AMATEUR NIGHT AT THE WINE FOLLIES: THE ANSWER WAS LYING IN PLAIN SIGHT
  84. THE PERFECT WINE?
  85. ATTENTION COSTCO WINE SHOPPERS: WHEN IS A ROSÉ NOT A ROSÉ?
  86. NAPA VALLEY WINES – JUST WHEN I THOUGHT WE HAD SEEN EVERYTHING!
  87. THE WINE FRAUD STORY – THE BEAT GOES ON!
  88. DO WINE AND TOILET PAPER HAVE ANYTHING IN COMMON?
  89. WINE JUSTICE STRIKES!
  90. FOODIES FIGHTING FOR FOIE!
  91. CALLING ALL WINE INVESTORS
  92. ONE WINEDRINKER’S OBSERVATIONS OVER NEARLY 30 YEARS: TWO FACES OF FRAUD? MORE TO COME?
  93. NEWS FLASH -- NEW ALCOHOL WARNING LABELS FOR WINE MAY SOON BE ISSUED!
  94. ROSÉ IS THE PERFECT ANTI WINE
  95. AN ENIGMA WRAPPED IN A RIDDLE – CAN AN UGLY DUCKLING BECOME A SWAN?
  96. STOP THE WINE PRESS! THE FBI HAS MOVED TO STOP WINE FRAUD!
  97. 2004 WHITE BURGUNDIES: PREMOX OR NOT? THE BEAT GOES ON!
  98. GOOD NEWS BAD NEWS
  99. WHAT’S ULLAGE GOT TO DO WITH IT? - THE CURIOUS CASE OF 1928 LA GAFFELIÉRE NAUDES
  100. LIGHTNING STRIKES TWICE!
  101. WINE FRAUD – LIGHTNING STRIKES!
  102. WINE FRAUD – CAVEAT EMPTOR!
  103. BIRDS OF A FEATHER - LAUGHABLE WINE DESCRIPTIONS
  104. TIS THE SEASON!
  105. WHAT’S IN YOUR WINE BOTTLE?
  106. HAPPY NEW YEAR 2012!
  107. A NEW WINE FOR THE HOLIDAYS THAT HAS EVERYONE BUZZED
  108. WHAT IS A WINE CONSUMER TO DO?
  109. IS IT DRINK NOW AND PAY LATER? YOU BET YOUR SWEET BIPPY, BUT BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR!
  110. BE THE MASTER OF YOUR DOMAIN!
  111. TAKE A DIFFERENT VIEW THAT IS EASY ON YOUR PALATE AND ON YOUR WALLET
  112. ALONG THE BURGUNDY TRAIL - OCTOBER 2011
  113. Z IS FOR ZINFANDEL
  114. A NOTE FROM DARRELL CORTI
  115. THE BIRDS ARE STILL FLOCKING – WATCH OUT BELOW!
  116. SOME MORE BIG HOUSE RELATIVES PAY A VISIT TO THE UNDERGROUND
  117. WINE & CLOSURE
  118. YIKES! THE TIDE MAY BE GOING OUT SOON! WHO’S SWIMMING NAKED?
  119. WHAT IS WINE?
  120. HALLELUJAH!
  121. BLENDING GAME -- BLENDING MAN TO THE RESCUE
  122. HEARD ON THE GRAPEVINE
  123. NOW APPEARING AT A STORE NEAR YOU - DON'T CRY FOR ME ARGENTINA STARRING MALBEC & TORRONTES
  124. BLENDING PARTY – A NEW TWIST – FLASH DASH – WHAT'S IN YOUR GLASS?
  125. BBBB TRIBUTE
  126. OMG - IS IT THE END OF THE WORLD OR NOT?
  127. TAKE THE WINE CHALLENGE - BLENDING IS YOUR FRIEND!
  128. THE BORDEAUX ROAD AHEAD - A BUBBLE, A SPEED BUMP, OR BLISS?
  129. HERE AT LAST – BEYOND 100 POINTS – NIRVANA!
  130. BIRDS OF A FEATHER…
  131. FLASH! BIG NUMBERS WINE CRITIC ISSUES REPORT ON 2009 BEAUJOLAIS
  132. SPÄTBURGUNDER – WHAT IS IT?
  133. PINOT GRIS. IT'S FOR ME. DO YOU KNOW PINOT GRIS?
  134. THE BEAT GOES ON AND ON … “SUM YUNG VINE” X 2
  135. AND THE BEAT GOES ON…
  136. 100-POINT WINES – GET ‘EM WHILE YOU CAN!
  137. STORAGE, STORAGE, STORAGE!
  138. HAPPY THANKSGIVING! IT'S TIME TO GIVE THANKS AND ENJOY FOOD AND WINE!
  139. WOW! 2009 RED BURGUNDIES. STAY TUNED!!
  140. TIME TO GET INTO BEAUJOLAIS!
  141. A BARGAIN AT WHAT PRICE?
  142. VINOUS DRIVE-BY -- IT'S THE DRIVE-BY SIP AND SPIT!
  143. WINE TASTING OF THE MILLENNIUM
  144. ANSWER TO WINE TASTING OF THE MILLENNIUM
  145. PAST LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
  146. DEAR SANTA, WE'VE GOT A LITTLE LIST
  147. THE UNDERGROUND IS BACK!
  148. WHY THE “UNDERGROUND” WINELETTER? ARE WE TERRORISTS?

WINE FRAUD – CAVEAT EMPTOR!

John Tilson • 2/4/12        Print This Post Print This PostComment Bookmark and Share

WINE FRAUD – CAVEAT EMPTOR!   PART II UPDATE  FEBRUARY 6, 2012


lightning-bolt


The fast breaking story on wine fraud has a completely new revelation on the possibility of  fraud in a large number of Domaine Romanee Conti wines being offered for sale at auction. The discrepancies on the bottles has now been specifically identified. The diligent research was done by Don Cornwell, who is the author of the previous article, Geoffrey Troy, an Underground Contributing Editor, who has been on the wine fraud story with Ed Lazarus and I for nearly 30 years, and Douglas Barzelay, a well know Burgundy aficionado from New York and others. Don Cornwell, put it all together is his  most recent post on Wine Beserkers. I am reprinting it here as an update  to the previous report  from February 4, 2011 which follows at the end and explains the details of  what has been transpiring:

Here are some of the more obvious issues that are raised by the pictures in the catalog, but which are not addressed anywhere in the text of the auction catalog:

(1) Condition of the capsules vs. fills and labels. The biggest red flag to me is the condition of the capsules as compared to the fills/labels. Many of the wines on this list have very clean labels and excellent fills, but ratty capsules. This makes no sense at all and the reverse is much more common with old wines from damp cellars. Spectrum has done nothing to explain this.

(2) No provenance information of any kind vs. an exceptional number of cut capsules. I do not ever recall seeing an auction catalog before where there wasn’t a single comment about provenance. Usually, at a minimum, there is some type of description of the storage conditions for the wine. But here there is absolutely nothing. Is that because Spectrum thought they would be taking a risk by making any statement whatsoever about how or where these wines were stored before the sale? With that alarm already sounding, the huge number of capsules that were cut or trimmed — apparently before the wines ever reached Spectrum – again raises major questions that call for serious disclosure. Ordinarily, wines that come out of the cellars of original owners don’t have T-cuts and capsule trims unless the owner has already tried unsuccessfully to sell the wines and had them rejected by an auction house. I can’t remember seeing DRC capsules where somebody cut off the printed band that surrounds the bottom of the capsule as an alleged means of providing assurance of proper provenance. Instead this raises the potential for fraud and certainly cries out for complete disclosure about where these wines came from, what other experts/auction houses rejected them and why. See lots: 37, 88, 89, 90, 93, 95, 96, 98, and 131. Lot 132 has perfect conditions except for an excessively abraded capsule. Spectrum: what is the explanation for zero provenance disclosure and yet clear indicia that a number of these wines appear to have been evaluated and possibly rejected by other auction houses previously?

(3) Missing Accent Marks on Romanée in the Appellation Controlée Line. Several lots of the DRC Romanée Conti are missing the accent on the first Ė (accent Aigu) on the green-colored Appellation Romanée Conti line. This is something that DRC has always used. The following lots of Romanée Conti appear to be missing the é in “Appellation Romanée Conti” and thus would appear to be questionable.

-Lot No.99: 12 bottles of 1971
-Lot No 101: 3 jeroboams of 1971 (but this is slightly unclear in the photo)
-Lot No 118: 12 bottles of 1966
-Lot No 121: 12 bottles of 1964
-Lot No 124: 3 magnums of 1962
-Lot No 127: 12 bottles of 1959

Was any attempt made by the “experts” to verify the authenticity of these anomalous labels with the Domaine?

(4) Missing Accent Marks on Post-77 La Tâche in the Appellation Controlée Line. Today’s modern La Tâche label contains an accent (circumflex) over the second A in La Tâche – both on the main block lettering of the vineyard name, and the green appellation controlée line. The circumflex was not included above the second A in La Tâche until the 1978 vintage and it appears on all La Tâche bottles from 1978 on. (The one exception to this that I’m aware of is that Wilson-Daniels has released some bottles of 1971 La Tache with new labels which contain the circumflex over the A in both places and Wilson-Daniels strip labels. It is possible that there may have been some other pre-78 vintages where Wilson-Daniels or the DRC importers in other countries have issued late releases with the new label, but I haven’t seen any to date.) . Lot 11, a magnum of 1985 La Tache, is missing the circumflex over the A on the green appellation controlee line, and thus the label appears to be a potential counterfeit. Again, was the authenticity of these labels confirmed with the Domaine?

(5) Incorrect Accent Marks on Propriétaire on the second printed line on the label. Another little-noticed change in DRC’s labels over time is that the modern label has an accent (Aigu) on the first E in the word propriétaire which appears on the left side of the second printed line on the label. DRC first began using the Aigu in the word propriétaire sometime after 1975 and the Aigu definitely appears in Proprietaire on line 2 on all DRC bottles from the 1978 vintage onward. It is not properly there however on bottles issued before 1976. (This is once again subject to the same exception for late release bottles of 1971 through Wilson-Daniels, which do bear the Aigu in Proprietaire.) In the case of the Spectrum wines, it would appear that someone copied the modern DRC label in attempting to fake older bottles of DRC, because the following lots contain an Aigu in Propriétaire but should not for the vintage in question:

-Lot 17: 2 magnums of 1959 Romanée Conti
-Lot 65: 7 bottles of 1966 DRC Montrachet
-Lot 66: 7 bottles of 1966 DRC Montrachet
-Lot 99: 12 bottles of 1999 Romanée Conti
-Lot 118: 12 bottles of 1966 Romanée Conti
-Lot 121: 12 bottles of 1964 Romanée Conti

Once again, if you have information from the Domaine that the labels on these bottles are correct, would you please share it.

(6) Incorrect Number of Digits on Bottle Numbers. The following lots contain an incorrect number of digits on the bottle number when compared with other bottles of known provenance:

-Lot 12: six magnums of 1971 La Tâche (alleged bottle No. 0255). Compare, e.g., 1971 La Tâche magnum (bottle No. 01078) in “Wines from the Legendary Cellar of Wolfgang Grünewald” Acker Auction Oct 18, 2008 at page 174. See also Acker Hong Kong Auction No. 1, May 31, 2008 Lot 122 (1971 DRC La Tache Magnum No. 00327). Notably, the 1971 magnums that Mr. Kurniawan sold in the April 27, 2007 Christie’s Los Angeles auction had very similar four digit numbers. See the Christie’s April 27, 2007 auction catalog at page 85 (bottle numbers 0233, 0235 and 0236.)

-Lot 15: two magnums of 1962 La Tâche (alleged bottle Nos. 0306 and 0308.) Compare, e.g. 1971 La Tache magnum (bottle No. 00346) in “Wines from the Legendary Cellar of Wolfgang Grünewald,” Acker Auction Oct 18, 2008, Lot 646 at page 174.

-Lots 65 and 66: each lot consists of 7 bottles of 1966 DRC Montrachet. Note that the bottle numbers on Lot 65 are all four digit numbers, ranging from 0900 to 0906. However, Lot 66 is all five digit numbers, ranging from 00035 to 00041. DRC uses either five or six digit numbers on their Montrachet bottles and used five digit numbers for the Montrachet in the 1966 vintage. See the photo below of Bottle 00148.

-Lot 94: a magnum of 1978 Romanée Conti (alleged bottle No. 0027). I personally owned a magnum of 1978 La Tache, which I sold at auction on December 10, 2005. My magnum had a six digit bottle number. See also Lots 95-97 in this auction (1978 Romanée Contis in 750 ml bottles) which have six digit numbers.

-Lot 100: a magnum of 1971 Romanée Conti (alleged bottle No. 0048). Compare, e.g. 1971 Romanée Conti magnum (bottle No. 000355) in “The Don Stott Collection,” Acker Merrall 11/4/2011, at Lot 1246 (at page 435).

-Lot 101: 3 jeroboams of 1971 Romanée Conti (alleged bottle Nos 016, 017 and 018.) Compare, e.g. 1971 Romanée Conti Jeroboam (bottle No. 00014), in “Hong Kong XVI,” Acker Merrall 9/16-17/2011, Lot 811 at page 268 and related photo.

(7) Incorrect Capsules. Lots 65 and 66 (1966 DRC Montrachet) have plain white capsules. That is incorrect. DRC utilizes a white capsule with a black printed band on it, which is similar to the branded capsules used on the red wines. A photo showing the proper capsule and label is set forth below.

66 DRC Montrachet.jpg


The description on Lot 65 says five bottles have “nicked Establissements Nicolas” capsules and the labels have “Establissments Nicolas” stamped on them. I’ve never heard of any DRC Montrachett being capsuled with Nicolas capsules. Leaving aside the absence of the Domaine capsules, why would wines have Nicolas capsules and labels and Lebegue-Bichot import/export strips (see photo of Lot 65 on page 69) at the same time? That makes no sense. Lot 66 has plain white capsules for which no explanation is provided and the Lebegue-Bichot import/export strips on that set of bottles are quite different.

(8) Wrong glass Lots 65 and 66 (1966 Montrachet) have completely different glass, including one that is completely inappropriate for a bottle of 1966 wine. The photo of Lot 65 on page 71 shows modern “tire tread” glass near the punt. The photo of Lot 66 on page 73 shows flat glass on the punt appropriate for the era.

(9) Too many bottles. 1966 DRC Montrachet is an exceedingly rare wine at this point. A search of Wine Market Journal reveals that only 7 bottles of 1966 DRC Montrachet have come into the auction market since 1996. Spectrum purports to have 14 bottles in a single auction. Surely this requires, at a minimum, a detailed description of the provenance of these bottles.

(10) Crudely stamped bottle numbers vs Domaine’s printed numbers. Lot No. 94 (an alleged magnum of 78 Romanée Conti) has a crudely hand-stamped four digit number. However, for the 1978 vintage DRC had the numbers printed onto their labels. See, for example, the photograph of Lot 97 (1978 Romanée Conti 750ml bottle) which appears at page 105 of the Spectrum catalog. See also the photograph of 1978 Romanée Conti (Bottle No. 005884) in “The Ultimate Cellar,” Sotheby’s April 2-3, 2011 (Lot 6244 at page 171.)

(11) Misspellings. On lot 94 (magnum of 78 Romanée Conti), the street address of Percy Fox, the UK agent, is misspelled. The name of the street. is Sackville, not Sackvilee. There are numerous photographs of the Percy Fox strip label with the address correctly spelled on other bottles in other auction catalogs. Have your experts contacted Percy Fox to determine whether they in fact used strip labels with their address misspelled?

(12) Wrong surround trim on the neck label. On Lot No. 99 (12 bottles of 1971 Romanée Conti) the decorative edging around the neck label is incorrect. The normal edging is a thick bold outer line tracing the shape of the neck label and a second fine parallel line in black with white space in between. On Lot 99, the fine black line and white space is missing. Instead there appears to be a solid gray line directly abutting the black solid outer line and there is no intervening white space between them. .

(13) Record of prior sale of the same numbered bottle. Lot 101 consists of three jeroboams of 1971 Romanée Conti with consecutive numbers. One of those is No 018. A jeroboam bearing the identical number was sold in Kurniawan’s Cellar II auction and another bearing the number 00018 was sold in the Rosania/Kurniawan auction at Acker on April 25, 2008. Each of these jeroboams had different strip labels, neck labels, etc. and both of them are quite different in appearance from Spectrum’s lot 101. What evidence did Spectrum’s “experts” use to determine that the bottle in Lot 101 is legitimate and the other two (at least one of which came from the same source) were fake? Moreover, how does Spectrum explain the fact that the three jeroboams in Lot 101 have three digit bottle numbers and are missing the Aigu accent on the first Ė on the green-colored Appellation Romanée Conti line?

(14) Soil level irreconcilable between main label, neck label and strip label. This is true in several instances. One of the most egregious is Lot 97 (1978 Romanée Conti). Another is lot 121 (12 bottles of 1964 Romanée Conti.)

(15) Wrong font/wrong spacing on some older neck labels. My very first impression as I looked at the photographs of the older wines in the catalog was that the font is wrong on the neck labels. DRC uses a comic-type font for MONOPOLE on the neck label. From 1990 on, the font in use for “MONOPOLE” has been the same as is depicted in the photo of the 1999 Romanée Conti on page 22 of the Spectrum catalog. However prior to the 1990 vintage the font on the neck label was slightly different. The font was slightly narrower, with the result that the straight lines in the M, N, P, L and E appear somewhat “thinner” before 1990. Additionally, the top portion of the letter O was distinctly “thin” in comparison with the bulbous bottom. See the photographs of the neck labels on the 1966 to 1988 vintages set forth at pages 70 and 74 of the Sotheby’s “Ultimate Cellar” catalog and pages 174, 176 and 186 of the Wolfgang Grünewald catalog referenced above. In addition, prior to 1990 (except apparently for the vintage 1964), the vintage date was printed in a regular font, not the thick bold numbering which appears on the modern labels In addition, for the years from 1978 through 1988 there was greater space between the numerals comprising the year than there is today. (Again, see the photographs from other auction catalogs referenced above.) The neck labels on the Spectrum bottles in Lots 11, 12, 89, 91, 92, 94, 97, 99, 118 and 122 do not match the neck labels in other auction catalogs for the vintages after 1964 and before 1990. The neck labels in the Spectrum catalog appear to be copies of the modern version – with a much thicker font on MONOPOLE, broad bold numbering and tight spacing between the numerals, even for the vintages from 1978 through 1988.

Ultimately, I’m left astonished wondering whose Spectrum’s alleged “experts” were and just what did they do? There are so many red flags here; so many things that an alleged “expert” should have detected but didn’t. Just what did this allegedly “elevated inspection process” consist of? What steps did Spectrum take to authenticate the “once in a lifetime” bottles of 1945 La Tache and Romanée Conti with DRC itself? What information did Spectrum obtain from DRC, if any, that would enable them to offer these wines to the public despite the obvious issues?

YIKES! Let’s hope that there is some explanation for all of these discrepancies and that not everything is counterfeit. Vamos a Ver!

In Vino Veritas,Sig

John Tilson

WINE FRAUD – CAVEAT EMPTOR!  PART I

Recently I published an article on wine fraud. The UNDERGROUND first reported on wine fraud in 1983. Interestingly, our first report was a article done by Ed Lazarus, a Contributing Editor to the UNDERGROUND exposing fake bottles of 1947 Romanée Conti. The UNDERGROUND has been on the sordid story of wine fraud for nearly 30 years! (To view the recent article “THE SORDID STORY OF WINE MANIPULATION & WINE FRAUD COVERING OVER 40 YEARS OF TASTING OLD WINES” click here).  Now there is evidence that a few folks somehow seem to have missed the article and also seem to have been AWOL for at least a few decades! I guess it is hard to break old habits, especially if you are a crook and making a lot of money with no one paying much attention. But, sorry Charlie, there is the UNDERGROUND! We are on it and watching you! The latest is an upcoming wine auction that apparently will feature wines from a person currently the target of a lawsuit for dealing in counterfeit wines (more on this later). And, there is a huge amount of information being circulated in the last day or so about the differences in labels for Domaine de la Romanée Conti wines that suggest that there is a  large number of wines being offered for sale that may not be authentic. The people that are reporting the facts on this are not dealers, wine critics, or auction houses. After all, why would you expect that these folks would be on the cutting edge!  These are people, like the Underground, whose only motivation is to stomp out  “THE SORDID STORY OF WINE MANIPULATION & WINE FRAUD”. Sadly, the wine fraud story seems to be accelerating. Maybe the people behind it are pushing for a final killing before the axe falls. And, let’s all hope that the axe falls directly on the necks of the scoundrels who are responsible for creating the fake wines. I am hopeful that my prediction for 2o12 that more will be revealed about wine fraud will come true. (To read that articleclick here). But, for now, here is the early story as posted on Wine Berserkers by Don Cornwell, a diligent investigator into wine fraud as well as premature oxidation or Premox in White Burgundies. Caveat emptor has never had more meaning.

fraud 1

URGENT WARNING–RUDY KURNIAWAN IS TRYING TO AUCTION MORE WINES

Post Number:#1 by Don Cornwell » Sat Feb 04, 2012 12:16 am

In the last 48 hours I have confirmed from multiple sources that Rudy Kurniawan is once again offering millions of dollars worth of wine for auction — this time at an auction to be held in London on February 8 by Spectrum Wine Auctions (based in Orange County California) and Vanquish Wine Ltd of London. Mr. Kurniawan’s wines were officially consigned through an agent — one Antonio Castanos — who is known to have acted on Mr. Kurniawan’s behalf in selling wines to third parties since the infamous Acker Merrall auction held on April 25, 2008 in New York. At that auction, a large number of Domaine Ponsot burgundies were withdrawn on the day of the sale at the request of Domaine Ponsot, which said that all of the bottles in question were fraudulent.

I was first alerted to the problem when two East Coast burgundy collector friends of mine asked if I had seen the February 8 Spectrum/Vanquish auction catalog. They were concerned, based on the fact that auction catalog contained numerous old vintages of high value DRC wines and first growth bordeaux, many in magnum, jeroboam and even bigger glass formats, that Mr Kurniawan was once again offering wines for sale. Upon further inquiry, multiple sources confirmed that Mr. Kurniawan is the source of the wines in question, including, late today, the auction house itself after I called to ask questions and confronted them with the information I had obtained. I also provided Spectrum with a lengthy list of DRC wines (the only wines from the catalog that I examined) whose authenticity I question based upon apparent discrepancies on the labels, strip labels and neck labels when compared with bottles I have personally owned in the past, and bottles sold via other auction houses. I also reported some discrepancies concerning the bottle numbers which appeared on some of the DRC bottles, information that one large bottle of DRC bore the same bottle number which had been sold twice previously at Acker Merrall auctions, including the Cellar II auction, and information that the case of 1966 DRC Romanee Conti in the auction had been previously pulled out of an auction catalog by another Southern California auction house on the grounds that its authenticity was in doubt. I will continue to look at the catalog for other discrepancies as time permits. Given the large number of problems I observed on the DRC bottles, and the fact that Spectrum and Vanquish elected to proceed with the sale without disclosing that Mr. Kurniawan is the key seller in the auction, late this afternoon I demanded that Spectrum and Vanquish halt the sale of Mr. Kurniawan’s wines. I have not yet received a response. The relevant decision maker is allegedly on his way to London to attend the sale as this is written.

As most of you are aware, Mr. Kurniawan sold tens of millions of dollars worth of wine in the auction market since at least 2004, including over $26 million in two auctions held at Acker Merrall in 2006 referred to as “The Cellar I” and “The Cellar II.” Acker Merrall eventually refunded millions of dollars to wine collectors who purchased wines in those auctions and demanded refunds on the grounds that they believed the bottles they purchased were not authentic. Acker subsequently obtained a $10.4 million consent judgment against Mr. Kurniawan.

There are at least two known prior instances in which bottles offered for sale by Mr. Kurniawan were withdrawn from auctions at the request of the domaines whose names appeared on the labels because the wines were not believed to be authentic. In addition to the Domaine Ponsot wines in the April 25 2008 Acker auction, a lot of six magnums of 1982 Le Pin which was offered by Christie’s Los Angeles in its April 27, 2007 auction catalog (and featured on the cover), was withdrawn at the request of Chateau Le Pin. Well known wine collector William Koch has filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court against Mr. Kurniawan alleging fraud and other claims in connection with several bottles of wine which Mr. Koch purchased at auction which were consigned by Mr. Kurniawan and which Mr. Koch contends were knowingly and fraudulently mislabeled. That litigation remains pending.

I have been told by Spectrum that there are other consignors whose wines appear in the Feb 8 auction in addition to those of Mr. Kurniawan, but I do not have a list of of the lot numbers which belong to other consignors.

Given Mr. Kurniawan’s previous history, I find it unbelievable and inexcusable that Spectrum and Vanquish chose to offer Mr. Kurniawan’s wines at auction at all — let alone without publicly disclosing his ownership. Richard Brierley, the Head of Fine Wine at Vanquish, is quite familiar with Mr. Kurniawan and his history by virtue of his prior employment at Christie’s New York. The bottom line is — BUYER BEWARE!

Don Cornwell
Editor of the Oxidized Burgundies Wiki Site
http://oxidised-burgs.wikispaces.com/

Post a Comment

2 comments for “WINE FRAUD – CAVEAT EMPTOR!”

  • Kevin Dinol says:

    Thanks for sharing this article, i enjoyed your post.

  • Post a Comment

    Leave a Reply

    Your email address will not be published.