BOGUS
WINE
geous” and pointed to the fact
that the auction houses — and the
counterfeiters — have shifted to
China, where fine wine is very hot.
(It has been lamented that there is
now more 1982 Lafite Rothschild
in China that was ever produced
by the legendary French chateau.)
Barzelay has a more optimistic
outlook.
“One good thing is that the market has come back to Earth,” he
says. “There is now a reasonable
skepticism out there. Kurniawan’s
arrest has made people realize that
there really is a problem here.”
Don Cornwell isn’t so sure.
“All I can say for certain at this
point is, it’s a start,” he observes.
“Rudy left behind a veritable
ocean of fake highly collectible
wines and a lot of people are reselling them.”
“It’s the end,” he continues,
“of one battle, in what really
has to be a war fought against
wine counterfeiting.” And perhaps, it would lead to arrests of
some who enabled Kurniawan.
But for anything to really change,
Cornwell believes laws need to
be overhauled.
“The auction houses in particular have very little incentive under existing state laws to actively
HUFFINGTON
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screen out counterfeits or to disclose
real provenance information to prospective bidders,” he says. “If Rudy’s
arrest ultimately leads to changes in
the laws or serious changes in how
the auction houses conduct their
business, I’ll feel my efforts really
accomplished something.”
“RUDY LEFT BEHIND A
VERITABLE OCEAN OF FAKE,
HIGHLY COLLECTIBLE WINES
AND A LOT OF PEOPLE ARE
RESELLING THEM. THOSE
WINES WILL BE CIRCULATING
FOR YEARS TO COME.”
Putting future Rudy Kurniawans
out of business will require reforms that would include — at a
minimum — giving buyers detailed
information about the provenance
of old and rare wines put on the
auction bloc or sold privately.
Many wine lovers don’t think that
will happen anytime soon.
In the interim, Don Cornwell remains vigilant. And if you’re interested in buying a rare bottle or two
of blue-chip Bordeaux, I know a guy
in China who’s got a case
of 1982 Lafite — cheap.