China’s booming appetite for fine wine in recent years has fuelled a rampant counterfeit market that industry insiders fear could be turning local buyers off.
"What we’re seeing across the country is a proliferation of knock-offs and copycats and outright counterfeit as the imported wine industry really explodes in this market," said Ian Ford of Summergate Fine Wines in Shanghai, adding that counterfeiters are taking advantage of inexperienced Chinese consumers.
China has become the world’s fifth largest consumer of wine, ahead of the UK, according to an International Wine and Spirit Research study. It forecasts 54 percent growth from 2011 to 2015 – the equivalent of a billion more bottles.
(Source: The Malaysian Insider )