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Atlanta based real-estate developer LeCraw, a fine wine collector, reportedly bought numerous bottles of wine from the Antique Wine Company, a well-known international distributor of wine based in London, since 1989.Each of the 13 wines he bought has allegedly proven to be fake by the wine expert and the producers. The suit also claims that AWC has not paid him millions of dollars for wine he had consigned in 2010 and has refused to take back stocks.
The case comes close on the heel of another highly publicized case of Rudy Kurniawan who was found guilty in a New York of producing and selling more than $1m worth of counterfeit wines at his Los Angeles home, including rare Burgundy wines like DRC. This was reported in delWine.
According to the case file by LeCraw, Maureen Downey, a wine expert who examined the wines issued a report in June 2013. This “Downey Report” reportedly opines that all of the Lafites, the 1908 Margaux, the 1847 d’Yquem, and the prized 1787 d’Yquem bought from the AWC are all counterfeits (“Fake Wine”).
The Report points out several shortcomings. For instance, on some of the bottles that were declared centuries old, the labels were printed by computers which obviously were non-existent then. A few bottles show excess glue around the labels which would not have been used by the châteaux. Other evidence of counterfeiting relates to the corks, capsules, sediment inside the bottle, shape and color of the bottle, and the color of liquid in the bottle, among other things."
The most high-profile forgery was allegedly a bottle of 1787 d’Yquem which LeCraw bought for nearly US$100,000 in 2006 and which was reportedly delivered personally by William under a lot of media glare. At that point it was considered as the most expensive bottle of white wine in the world. As if to reaffirm the historical authenticity, it was publicized as “made with grapes picked before George Washington was president”
According to the Courthouse News Service, Williams also apparently refused to buy back much of the wine, even though LeCraw offered to sell them at a loss. Company, however, did take back a lot of wine on consignment basis in 2010. LeCraw claims, he is still owed millions of dollars on the consigned wines. The court document specifies that the Atlanta-based collector is seeking at least $25m in damages from AWC including accounting and punitive damages.
Denial by Antique Wine Company (AWC)
A day after the report came out in the media, AWC denied any wrongdoing or fraud with Stephen Williams saying in a statement issued on Monday that though he had not received the notice yet, the lawsuit would be strongly defended.
'Our lawyers have been in correspondence with Mr. LeCraw’s lawyers over these allegations for some months and have provided them with evidence to prove that the allegations made by them are unfounded. This evidence includes extensive information provided at the time of the sales to show the authenticity of the wines and subsequent documents verifying the original information.’ However, LeCraw rubbishes the claim although he did admit that they had been in correspondence for that last few months to resolve the issue.
The case brings out once again the fragility of investing in the collectible wines. Our readers who have wines stored in the temperature controlled cellars overseas must also know the risks of keeping a dud in the cellar like the $100,000 bottle of grape juice.
In India, such problems may not be seen in the next few years until the duties are brought down. In any case the affluent few who do dabble in purchase of such collectibles should know the risk involved. However, if one goes by another article last week that claims 90% of the premium wines sold in China is reported to be frauds, it is a matter of time when a new problem will be at hand for connoisseurs in India.
In any case, the current matter is now sub-judice but our readers would be able to get further insights into how these forgeries are committed and how they might be avoided.
For an earlier related story in delWine
Subhash Arora
CASE FILE
(courtesy jancisrobinson.com) |