Category: New This Week

NEW THIS WEEK: February 4, 2016

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This month, we’ve begun with many fascinating wine fraud stories from around the world. In particular, take a look at the Donkey & Goat article which showcases a different type of fraud: internal, and how policies can dictate your employees’ behaviors. Also, see part nine of our Rudy Kurniawan trial,…

Ex Staffer to Face Trial for Wine Theft

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Three former employees fired from California winery, Donkey & Goat, will be arraigned February 11, 2016 for theft and embezzlement. In Alameda courts, Zachary Gomber, Kate Sylvan, and Morgan Hill were found to have responsibility in $70,490 worth of stolen wine from their former employer.  In 2014 the owners of…

Monvera Glass Décor Announces Availability of UV Printing

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Monvera Glass Décor now offers UV Printing for their customers in screen printing on wine bottles. This new technology will give wider color palettes, specialty inks, the ability to do photo reproduction through a new four color process, and a new eco-sensitive  production with the lowest carbon footprint possible. While…

Italian Police Find 9,000 Bottles of Fake Moët

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Police in Padova discovered a bottle of champagne did not have a serial number on it while investigating a separate group in late 2015. This led the police to discover 9,000 bottles of sparkling table wine marked as Moët to be found. Police found eight people involved in the operation…

Demand Drives Wine Counterfeiting

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David Wainwright, an expert wine authenticator, discusses how the demand for fine and rare wines has increased, especially in Asia, which ultimately causes counterfeiters to “create” a new supply to sell. Wainwright also covers how many of these crimes do not go to court, and therefore, the chances of conviction…

NEW THIS WEEK: January 28, 2016

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In the final update of January, we added hundreds of Champagne pictures to our Gallery of Authentics, many news stories, Maureen Downey’s response to a lawsuit dropped against her, and a How To guide for WineFraud.com.

We scoured the wine fraud community and found some interesting articles for our members…

Two Suspects Arrested in Ho Chi Minh City

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Two men in Ho Chi Minh City were arrested January 27, on suspicion of wine counterfeiting. Tran Van Loc and Pham Thanh Phong were found with many bottles of wine, and equipment to refill and make bottles. Authorities put the two men in custody, after Phong admitted to buying empty…

Bordeaux Winemaker Found Guilty of Fraud

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Multiple news sources have covered a wine fraud of a different sort this week. Loïc Pasquet, winemaker of Liber Pater in Bordeaux, was found guilty of fraud of almost 600,000 euros given to him in aids and grants from the EU. Pasquet was accused of doing false promotional work and…

Stolen Côte Rotie Wine Found in Hidden Cellar

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According to Decanter.com, a small wine producer in Rhone has recovered about a quarter of the wines stolen from a December 2014 wine heist. Domaine Garon had 1,800 bottles of wine stolen over a year ago which would represent about ten percent of their total production.  The wines stolen were…