wine scam

by **wonderer** » Thu Dec 13, 2007 8:59 pm

I was in my local Trust Mart and they had a new imported wine selection for the holiday season. So I bought an Australian Shiraz, or so I thought. Opening it, it certainly didn't taste like Australian Shiraz, but suspiciously like bland domestic Cabernet. The labels looked authentic on casual inspection, two English labels and the Chinese one stating that it's an import. On closer inspection, the English version has the odd spelling mistake and the tell-tale missing spaces after commas and full stops,like this.The cork was blank and the bottle barely marked. Crafty buggers! They're bottling Great Wall or something and pasting on fake labels. Is it some well known scam?

by **Dazza** » Thu Dec 13, 2007 9:13 pm

Have my suspicions too, I did buy a couple of bottles of some Australian Shiraz labeled as Valledrama or something from the local Lianhua, okay it didn't bust the bank but it sure as hell didn't taste right.

by **jeffry3** » Thu Dec 13, 2007 9:39 pm

welcome to China!!

by **mat** » Thu Dec 13, 2007 9:50 pm

Hey Wonderer, what was the brand?

by **Cylon** » Thu Dec 13, 2007 10:04 pm

Well, this is not the only scam going on in China...

by **mat** » Thu Dec 13, 2007 10:08 pm

Cylon wrote:Well, this is not the only scam going on in China...

I think you'll find that it is. What other scams are there?

by **wonderer** » Thu Dec 13, 2007 10:30 pm

^^^Giant Kangeroo 2004 Shiraz, by James Estate, NSW (which may not exist). Check it out mate, you're the expert.

by **emerson** » Thu Dec 13, 2007 11:37 pm

What, now there's a risk that my booze is fake? Great. Is nothing sacred?

by **chingiskhan** » Fri Dec 14, 2007 2:03 am

Giant Kangeroo????? That very simplistic name has China written all over it. That's very typical of how Chinese brands call themselves - Flying Swallow, Big Panda, Giant Kangeroo, Very Tasty Restaurant!

But having said that, I'm still a little surprised they're pretending it's from Australia. It's one thing to give the impression of an Australian heritage but quite another to blatantly deceive in such a big chain as Trustmart which as many know is part of Walmart.

by **Zhoule** » Fri Dec 14, 2007 3:23 am

I emailed the winery (Waiting on something at the office, had some time to kill). This is what I got back:

I would be interested to learn more about this
product. We do export a large quantity of wine to China to various
customers under a number of different labels, however I do not recognise
this label name. If you could provide any details from the label regarding
producer/distributor, I would be pleased to receive them. If a photo of
the labels were available that would be great.

So maybe it's relabeled with what the Importers thought was a better name? Probably cut with some local sewer water first though.

by **Gabriel76** » Fri Dec 14, 2007 7:58 am

PS - dont buy wine with a label / brand that you've never heard of.

by **yu888** » Fri Dec 14, 2007 8:51 am

Or better yet, ONLY BUY WINE FROM A TRUSTED SOURCE!

Wines can be ordered and delivered from import/distributors such as Simon at Ruby Red ( http://www.rubyred.com.cn/ ) and Mat at Justvino (part of the Just Drinks group at http://www.justvino.cn/ ) as well as direct from Summergate and ASC Wines .

by **me_myself_&_i** » Fri Dec 14, 2007 10:06 am

there is also some categories of products, that are exclusively, reserved for exportations, that you will never see, in the countries of origines, and production.
wine/cheeses/luxury products etc etc etc and more etc..

by **szwliew** » Fri Dec 14, 2007 10:14 am

chingiskhan wrote:Giant Kangeroo????? That very simplistic name has China written all over it. That's very typical of how Chinese brands call themselves - Flying Swallow, Big Panda, Giant Kangeroo, Very Tasty Restaurant!

Kind of like real australian brands with names like Yellow Tail, The Little Penguin, etc..

by **Missin'_Miami** » Fri Dec 14, 2007 11:09 am

Came across a French wine sold at the Lian Hua supermarket one time. Had a feeling it wasn't really French with all the typos on the label.

by **canuckyyz** » Fri Dec 14, 2007 11:37 am

Brand name booze is faked in China as well. Usually the higher priced products are more likely to be faked due to the bigger profit margin. Same problem in other nearby countries. They even fake some of the brand name Mekong whiskies in Bangkok.

You might be drinking fake booze at a club that offers all you can drink for a fxed price nights.

by **lilstar** » Fri Dec 14, 2007 11:57 am

Sorry out of wine topic, talking about brands in China, a friend of mine ( local chinese ) bought a VW Sagitar and when we went out with him, we spotted the brand on the car spelled SGAITAR. Not sure if the local manufacturer placed wrongly the capitals but it shocked my friend who had purchased it for 2months without noticed it.

by **Scouse** » Fri Dec 14, 2007 4:10 pm

i buy my booze from Gubei Carrefour.. never had problems on fakes there....

by **gfo68** » Fri Dec 14, 2007 6:52 pm

I've been through this a dozen times. I drink whiskey, and trust me getting rubbing alcohol with local whiskey at a 20/80 mix is much worse than a local wine. I now only buy from western shops (Carrefour, etc.)

*of course at a dozen times, that just shows how much hope I have for the shops

by **wonderer** » Fri Dec 14, 2007 9:07 pm

Okay, photos:

by **LifeMage** » Fri Dec 14, 2007 9:34 pm

I know next to nothing about wine....(or wine shows)...
but looking at the label, it seems this wine won some 2002 awards
while being a 2004 wine (?)

:buzhidao::

by **szwliew** » Fri Dec 14, 2007 10:22 pm

I think you can tell by the "Volumn"

by **Dazza** » Sat Dec 15, 2007 2:08 am

haha what a give away, not that ive been had as stated earler..actually I have not seen one bottle of import wine sold here with the prestigious awards printed on the label???

by **Kiwi** » Sat Dec 15, 2007 5:04 am

szwliew wrote:
chingiskhan wrote:Giant Kangeroo????? That very simplistic name has China written all over it. That's very typical of how Chinese brands call themselves - Flying Swallow, Big Panda, Giant Kangeroo, Very Tasty Restaurant!

Kind of like real australian brands with names like Yellow Tail, The Little Penguin, etc..

Shhhhh. . . .

by **mat** » Sat Dec 15, 2007 10:54 pm

The medals being for 02 on an 04 wine is not a problem. The wineries in Oz are allowed to carry them over to other vintages.

The spelling is the giveaway. However, without tasting it, it could be Oz wine, just shipped in bulk and bottled here. The winery that sold it may not even know, and that is their own fault.

It could be an interesting investigation to find the background to some of these wines, which would not be too hard considering they do have the correct labelling on the back by the looks of it.

by **thewalrus** » Sun Dec 16, 2007 12:17 am

May be a bulk import form Oz, then bottled here locally. We have seen a few of these guys at trade shows of late...not always that bad, but not great either.

by **wonderer** » Sun Dec 16, 2007 9:08 pm

It didn't taste like any Shiraz that I've ever tried, Australian or otherwise. Just bland red wine, and why import that? Lots here.

I googled James Estate and sent them email about it, no reply yet.

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