The Auswine Forum

Chinese police find 14,000 bottles of fake Penfolds wine in counterfeiting scam
Sydney Morning Herald
November 16 2017 - 4:40PM
Kirsty Needham

http://www.smh.com.au/world/chinese-police- ... zmnh3.html

Shanghai police have seized 14,000 bottles of fake Penfolds wine being sold by counterfeiters in China.

The fake Penfolds wine was being sold through Alibaba's online flea market Taobao, as well as pubs and karaoke bars.

The three-month investigation followed a complaint to Alibaba by Australian wine company Treasury Wine Estates that suspicious retailers were charging "extraordinarily low prices" for Penfolds wine in its fastest growing market.

Alibaba called in police, who said at a press conference on Wednesday that 13 suspects had been detained, including Mr Dai, a wine dealer who was selling fake Penfolds for 200 yuan ($40) per bottle online, while it should retail for 600 to 3000 yuan ($120 to $595).

Some boxes and bottles shown at a press conference on Thursday had Rawson's Retreat and Bin 128 labelling, but many other labels were blocked out. The prices quoted by police suggest the haul may include premium wines, including top-of-the-range Grange.

More than 2000 bottles of wine were found in Mr Dai's Shanghai warehouse and another 10,000 bottles and 10,000 fake labels were found a fortnight later at two warehouses in Xiamen run by his supplier, a Mr Su.

Chinese reporters were given access to Mr Dai in detention, where he told them Mr Su had sourced red wine from overseas and re-bottled it in China, "so they are not fake wines, they bring no harm to the human body".

I'm so cynical these days that this stuff is a yawn-fest (thanks for posting though!).

This is no doubt a tiny drop in the ocean of fake wine, corruption and greed are rife throughout the world.

More and more I wish I could avoid all news sources and most social media and just live in a pretty bubble. Those that know me will say I sound like my wife, who tends to do exactly that. I used to be amazed but her approach is seeming more and more conducive to happiness every day. Then there's the burning elephant and boiling chicken pictures etc etc.... enormous sigh.....

TiggerK wrote: More and more I wish I could avoid all news sources and most social media and just live in a pretty bubble. Those that know me will say I sound like my wife, who tends to do exactly that.

My girlfriend calls it the "happy bubble" - definitely works for her.

TiggerK wrote: Then there's the burning elephant and boiling chicken pictures etc etc.... enormous sigh.....

We've been doing that to Lobsters/crayfish et al since day dot.

Mr Dai is trying desperately to avoid a bullet in the back of the head if he's supplied anyone from the regime.

dave vino wrote:

TiggerK wrote: Then there's the burning elephant and boiling chicken pictures etc etc.... enormous sigh.....

We've been doing that to Lobsters/crayfish et al since day dot.

Yeah and people spray or squash spiders and cockroaches too without a moments thought, so what's the difference eh? (although actually I'll be smug for a sec and say that I don't these days, I always try and see it from the cockroaches point of view, not his fault he was born so ugly, and huntsmen spiders are awesome because mozzies are evil, thus fair game). And yeah I eat meat, so have to accept the consequences and realities of that.

Gets me back to my other post about greed and corruption though, those doing the so-called checks, balances and audits are often incompetent, lazy, overstretched or paid to look the other way.

Anyway, enough rant, back into my bubble. Roll on beer o'clock!

TiggerK wrote: Then there's the burning elephant and boiling chicken pictures etc etc.... enormous sigh.....

*cough* vegan *cough*

deejay81 wrote:

TiggerK wrote: Then there's the burning elephant and boiling chicken pictures etc etc.... enormous sigh.....

*cough* vegan *cough*

Yep, and it's a small contribution without a doubt. But while I might feel a little better personally if I went vegan, I know full well the animal cruelty horrors will likely never stop (e.g we don't eat elephants). Oh, plus I really like bacon.

Bin128 for $40 a bottle? Seems much more like where it should retail at (but still a little overpriced )

winetastic wrote:

TiggerK wrote: More and more I wish I could avoid all news sources and most social media and just live in a pretty bubble. Those that know me will say I sound like my wife, who tends to do exactly that.

My girlfriend calls it the "happy bubble" - definitely works for her.

+1. When I retired a couple of years ago I metaphorically hand the keys to the world to the kids announcing I was bailing out. It's all theirs now.

What's social media?

Carl

hmm, this seems very strange. I think Mr Dai didn't pay his bribe money.
there is a mountain of fake wine in China, indeed, my local supermarket has Bin 389 that is a clearly fake.
no-one does anything about it, so why this particular gentleman? hmmm, forgot the palm grease, methinks.

If he's executed and the bleeding heart Aussie left get hold of it, won't be a good image for Penfolds?

haha, even in China, they don't execute you for that. Capital punishment almost always involves a death of some sort, or fraud greater than shi yi (about 200 million dollars AUD)

felixp21 wrote:haha, even in China, they don't execute you for that. Capital punishment almost always involves a death of some sort, or fraud greater than shi yi (about 200 million dollars AUD)

So a couple+ cases of Penfolds g3, then?

And whilst not for a second inferring anything else other than coincidence, a second set of Grange goes under the hammer next weekend, just 2 months after the last one, at the same auction house in Adelaide.

Wonder how many of these there actually are?

Cheers
Craig

JamieBahrain wrote:If he's executed and the bleeding heart Aussie left get hold of it, won't be a good image for Penfolds?

Australia abolished capital punishment quite some time ago. I believe the government, both Liberal and Labour, tries it's best to get convicted Australians on death row to have their sentence reviewed or returned to Australia. I find it hard to belive that only "bleeding heart" Aussie leftists oppose the death penalty, especially since we're talking about a commercial crimes.

Mahmoud.

Yep. Let's avoid a boring bloke alert.

Wow, political invective followed by ad hominem invective! Such consistency might be admired were it not so ..... what is the word I'm looking for?