Latest news with #WineBlast
Yahoo
05-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
UK ‘flooded' with fake wine
The UK market is being flooded with convincing knock-offs of popular wines, says a leading fraud expert. Maureen Downey, known as the 'Sherlock Holmes of wine', said organised criminals are producing 'high-end counterfeits' of labels such as Yellow Tail, the second-largest brand in UK supermarkets. She said that wine bottles are being replicated 'to a professional degree' never seen before. Yellow Tail, an Australian brand selling Merlot, Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Pinot Grigio, sells 13.5 million cases worldwide each year and is widely available in supermarkets such as Tesco, Sainsbury's, ASDA and Morrisons. Ms Downey told the Wine Blast podcast: 'An Asian organised crime gang has partnered with a European organised wine gang to flood the market with counterfeit Yellow Tail.' 'The crime rings are spending half a million dollars to get the same digital printer used by the professional producers. They're replicating bottles to an unprecedented level.' She added: 'They're no longer making old and rare bottles because you need period glass, you have to age the labels and make sure the cork is ok. 'Now, they just have it all made to the same specs that the producers use. It's a different game. It's much more money. The average consumer is pretty screwed.' She said it was interesting that the regular Yellow Tail drinker would be able to spot a counterfeit easier than somebody drinking a rare or vintage wine, 'because if you drink Coca Cola every day and somebody gives you a Pepsi, you're going to know the difference.' Ms Downey said it was easier today to replicate wines at scale. Many producers keep their anti-fraud measures so secret that even their distributors did not always know what to look for. In 2021, trading standards began an investigation following reports from supermarket customers in the West Midlands that bottles of Yellow Tail did not taste right. KVK supermarket in Sutton Coldfield had its alcohol licence removed after 41 bottles of Yellow Tail were found to be fake. In 2022, a shopkeeper in Leicestershire was ordered to pay £4,000 after 142 bottles of fake Yellow Tail were found in his shop. Kannan Vigneswaran admitted to buying the wine from a man in an unmarked van offering a deal. Peter Richards, presenter of Wine Blast, said: 'It's not just fine and rare wines. You constantly read about producers or merchants being convicted for blending X into Y and calling it Z.' Mr Richards said a source at Yellow Tail had confirmed the scale of the problem, revealing that a criminal gang in Moldova had supposedly produced up to 100,000 cases of counterfeit Yellow Tail. 'That's an industrial level. The company have pursued it legally, but don't have much hope of any convictions. Instead, they're monitoring shipments as closely as they can,' he said. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
05-05-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
UK ‘flooded' with fake wine
The UK market is being flooded with convincing knock-offs of popular wines, says a leading fraud expert. Maureen Downey, known as the 'Sherlock Holmes of wine', said organised criminals are producing 'high-end counterfeits' of labels such as Yellow Tail, the second-largest brand in UK supermarkets. She said that wine bottles are being replicated 'to a professional degree' never seen before. Yellow Tail, an Australian brand selling Merlot, Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Pinot Grigio, sells 13.5 million cases worldwide each year and is widely available in supermarkets such as Tesco, Sainsbury's, ASDA and Morrisons. Ms Downey told the Wine Blast podcast: 'An Asian organised crime gang has partnered with a European organised wine gang to flood the market with counterfeit Yellow Tail.' 'The crime rings are spending half a million dollars to get the same digital printer used by the professional producers. They're replicating bottles to an unprecedented level.' 'Average consumer is pretty screwed' She added: 'They're no longer making old and rare bottles because you need period glass, you have to age the labels and make sure the cork is ok. 'Now, they just have it all made to the same specs that the producers use. It's a different game. It's much more money. The average consumer is pretty screwed.' She said it was interesting that the regular Yellow Tail drinker would be able to spot a counterfeit easier than somebody drinking a rare or vintage wine, 'because if you drink Coca Cola every day and somebody gives you a Pepsi, you're going to know the difference.' Ms Downey said it was easier today to replicate wines at scale. Many producers keep their anti-fraud measures so secret that even their distributors did not always know what to look for. In 2021, trading standards began an investigation following reports from supermarket customers in the West Midlands that bottles of Yellow Tail did not taste right. KVK supermarket in Sutton Coldfield had its alcohol licence removed after 41 bottles of Yellow Tail were found to be fake. In 2022, a shopkeeper in Leicestershire was ordered to pay £4,000 after 142 bottles of fake Yellow Tail were found in his shop. Kannan Vigneswaran admitted to buying the wine from a man in an unmarked van offering a deal. 'Industrial level' of production Peter Richards, presenter of Wine Blast, said: 'It's not just fine and rare wines. You constantly read about producers or merchants being convicted for blending X into Y and calling it Z.' Mr Richards said a source at Yellow Tail had confirmed the scale of the problem, revealing that a criminal gang in Moldova had supposedly produced up to 100,000 cases of counterfeit Yellow Tail. 'That's an industrial level. The company have pursued it legally, but don't have much hope of any convictions. Instead, they're monitoring shipments as closely as they can,' he said.
Telegraph
21-03-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Wine tastes just as good from a can, experts claim
Canned wine is just as good as when it comes in bottles, experts have said. Do not be snobby about drinking win e from a tin because it is just an inert vessel and does not spoil the taste, according to Masters of Wine Susie Barrie and Peter Richards. They said that it is a 'myth' metal containers leave a tinny taste in the mouth and said drinkers can trust cans. The canned wine industry was estimated to be worth £1billion in 2024, according to the latest figures. In 2023, Waitrose switched from mini glass bottles to aluminium cans to halve its carbon footprint per drink. Speaking on their Wine Blast podcast, the married couple said that purists should not turn their noses up. They carried out a blind test and found the difference in taste was negligible. They also spoke to other wine experts who reached the same conclusion. Master of Wine Richard Kelley told the podcast: 'Aluminium is like glass, it's a vessel. 'There's no reason why anybody should view cans differently to buying wine in a glass.' He described the 25cl cans as the perfect size at 'two decent glasses of wine', adding: 'It just works.' Mr Kelley said he sometimes swigs straight from the tin or uses a straw. He added: 'There's no reason why you shouldn't do it.' Louisa Payne, founder of online subscription service Brixton Wine Club said only people under 45 currently drink wine from a can. She added: 'Generally it is the younger crowd. I think that the younger generation is used to everything being in a can now. 'We drink canned water, everything comes in a tin, and I think they are so much more predisposed to trying that versus some people who would look at it and say, 'I would never drink wine in a can.' 'But they probably drink Coca-Cola, water and beer and don't think anything of it.' Peter Richards added that cans 'if done well, should not make any appreciable difference to your wine than bottles'. He added: 'In short, you can trust cans, there's no reason to be scared of them. 'We would definitely not agree, for example, as one wine writer recently put it, that the flavours skew tinny. That's a myth.' He said 'it absolutely can be delicious' although this isn't guaranteed. 'Some wine purists turn up their nose at wine in a can. One sommelier is quoted as saying 'Drinking canned wine is like drinking out of a trashcan.' 'But we completely disagree. We definitely champion good canned wine, maybe with a good glass to hand. 'It makes wine more accessible, it makes wine more convenient, more fun, frankly.'
