The FBI and the US Department of Justice are investigating the growth in the trade of counterfeit vintage wines.
Wines of dubious provenance have been in circulation for many years but only recently has the trade become so common as to need major investigation.
Serena Sutcliffe, head of Sotheby’s wine department, warned last year that more bottles of 1945 vintage wines had been sold than were actually produced in that year.
Meanwhile, American billionaire collector William I. Koch is suing German wine merchant Hardy Rodenstock for putting allegedly counterfeit bottles into circulation.
Financial Times 17/3/07 page 1 (Weekend)