Is My Wine Fake?

Dom Perignon isn’t supposed to taste like club soda.

In recent days, we tasted a bottle from the esteemed producer that made us scratch our heads. The first red flag was the foil surrounding the capsule. It was super brittle, thin, and broke off in many pieces that created a mound of sparkles on the marble floor.

At first pour, the color was a pale lemon which is normal. But once we tasted the wine, a silence came about, then looks around. No one wanted to say anything because wine is all about showing off and not being wrong…just kidding, but it is intimidating to be the first to say something about any wine. Depending on the group, you could be roasted for eternity for comparing a 2008 Cristal to Prosecco.

The wine had little flavor, fierce bubbles, and had no resemblance to the epic wines and vintages we’ve tasted from the estate. Could it be fake? Maybe. Could it have suffered extreme heat exposure over the years? Of course. Let’s go with fake.

Wine is a counterfeiter’s dream. All it takes is a high-quality printer, pristine label, and accurate capsule to fool the most discerning experts like the late Michael Broadbent, a legendary wine authority and head of Christie’s wine auctions, who was duped for years by notorious fraudster Hardy Rodenstock (for the full story, read The Billionaire’s Vinegar by Benjamin Wallace).

Hardy Rodenstock's infamous 'Thomas Jefferson' bottles sold for hundreds of thousands to wealthy collectors like Bill Koch.

People often don’t drink the wine they buy for a long time. By the time they taste the Welch’s grape juice in the bottle, it’s too late to do anything about it.

The main thing protecting you from a fake or damaged wine is the seller. Join an allocation list and buy direct from wineries when possible. Buy from local independent shops you trust. Buy from auctions that do their homework. Or just message us and we’ll source the wines for you.

To open a truly great wine gives one’s senses the greatest satisfaction in the world. To break that trust is what makes fake wine a crime to humanity.