THE wine industry's $143 million trade with China could be threatened after the discovery of fake Australian wines in China.
Chinese entrepreneurs are counterfeiting Australian wine, including knock-offs of one of our best-known brands, Penfolds, and promoting the fakes as quality wines in shops and trade fairs throughout the country.
But it is not just big companies being targeted. One small Australian wine producer from the southern Flinders Ranges said he has been the victim of Chinese counterfeiters.
Emanuel Skorpos of Flinders Run travelled to China earlier this month following reports that one of his wines had been copied.
He visited a wine shop in Shenzhen where he bought two bottles of his Kieras Bin 05 2008 merlot. The wines will now be analysed in Australia. When questioned, he said, the shopkeeper told him he could also supply other wines under the brand and in greater quantities.
Mr Skorpos fears the racket has already affected sales of his wines as well as other producers and threatens to tarnish the image of Australian wine in a country that is now one of Australia's major export wine markets. ''It's bigger than my issue,'' he said. ''It's about Australia's export wine market. The Australian government needs to do something.''
China is Australia's fastest growing export wine market. From 2004, exports have surged by 84 per cent annually and in the last financial year 46 million litres of Australian wine landed in China: 21.5 million litres in bottles and 23.5 million litres in bulk.
The Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation is aware of the problem. ''I'm not going to deny it doesn't happen,'' said Steve Guy, the corporation's general manager for compliance and trade. ''But we need evidence before we take action.''
Mr Guy said if a wine labelled as Australian proved to be non-Australian it became an issue for the corporation; otherwise knock-offs and abuse of trademarks are for individual companies to deal with.
http://www.smh.com.au/business/grape-ro ... 13io4.html
Chinese wine?
Chinese wine?
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”