still prevalent today and it’s not just a collectors’ problem, restricted to rare and valuable bottles sold at auction. The most common wine cheat is thought to be using grapes from cheap areas to make wine that is labelled with a more prestigious appellation.
The trade in bulk wine has often been accused of covering up cases of passing-off, with riper grapes from sunnier countries or regions adding stuffing to thin vintages from appellations with more saleable names.
In the six months from December 2020 to May 2021, a joint Europol-Interpol operation seized 1.7 million litres of counterfeit drinks, most of it wine and vodka.
Last month, it was reported that a winemaker in Spain is accused of a £22 million fraud, allegedly involving selling mislabelled wine into Spanish supermarkets.
Read more on telegraph.co.uk