Wine And Spirits Larceny

First it was the theft of a copper sculpture of an artichoke from the Robert Mondavi Winery in Napa valued at $10,000. Then there’s the still unsolved mystery of the missing bottles of 20-year-old Pappy Van Winkle Bourbon worth about $25,000. We’ve also reported on several schemes to outwit the authorities with smuggled vodka in the Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan.

Now comes word of a counterfeiting ring that has been passing off fake bottles of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti. Depending on the vintage, a bottle of DRC runs from several hundred dollars to many thousand. The investigation involved 10 countries and broke up an international network of forgers and smugglers. Seven arrests have been made so far.

As the investigation continues, Decanter reports it is believed that at least 400 bottles of fake wine, of very poor quality, with a value of $2.7 million were circulated in various parts of Europe. So far there are no reports of any showing up in the U.S.