Talking Wine – April 2017

A whisky auctioneer has uncovered a massive counterfeiting operation described as “extremely sophisticated”. Apparently an auctioneer visited the private residence of the seller and became suspicious of the large number of valuable bottles he came across. All these were rare and valuable items, if genuine. Police were called and uncovered a hugely sophisticated operation not seen on such a scale before. The auctioneering house pride themselves on assessing the authenticity and provenance of any bottles and in this case the offences involved passing off non vintage spirit as rare and old whisky. This is the second time in a year that similar operations have been discovered with much of the stock looking to be sold abroad to unsuspecting private individuals.

Yet again French vintners have hijacked two Spanish tankers and emptied their contents of basic everyday wine in protest at these foreign imports that they claim are ruining their livelihood. Two thoughts; firstly Spain is producing better quality and affordability at the bottom end so why don’t the French up their game and match them rather than adopting such a militant approach. Secondly If this is the future of a ‘united’ Europe then aren’t you glad we are on the way out!