Rumors had been circulating for some time. In Taiwan, there were many large bottles—particularly Burgundy wines with limited production numbers. Take, for instance, the Chambertin from Domaine Dujac, which has a total production of no more than 500 bottles. Taiwan typically receives an annual allocation of just one bottle, yet insiders report that several hundred bottles from the 2006 vintage alone are circulating on the island republic east of China.
The scandal began to unfold eight months ago during a dinner hosted by the exclusive representative of Domaine Coche-Dury. The representative dined with a businessman who had brought along a supposed bottle of the highly sought-after Meursault Perrières. The representative noted that the bottle's appearance and taste seemed inauthentic. Three months later, a group of wine enthusiasts gathered to dispel the growing rumors of counterfeiting. They opened ten bottles of famous wines they had recently purchased, finding that these wines “had almost the same taste and color.” Since then, Taiwan's collector community has been on edge.
In May, a whistleblower came forward to the Chinese-language magazine “Business Today” in Taipei, claiming that the country's economic elite were embroiled in a massive wine counterfeiting scandal, with a scale exceeding 1bn New Taiwan Dollars (approx. 28m €/30m US$). As the news spread, Taiwan's wealthy and prominent figures began scouring their cellars and issuing warnings to one another: "If you find a wine from an unknown source, do not drink it. And if you have one in your possession, please return it to the wine merchant as soon as possible."
By the end of June, “Business Today” published an extensive investigative report. According to rumours, according to "Business Today", it is suspected that the counterfeiting operation might be linked to 67-year-old billionaire Wood Chen, the former president of Yageo Corporation and one of the country's most prominent wine collectors. This revelation has sent shockwaves through Taiwan's wine community, further fueling the uncertainty and anxiety among collectors.
Do they originate from one source?
According to a whistleblower who spoke with the Chinese-language magazine “Business Today”, Wood Chen, the 67-year-old former president of Yageo Corporation and one of Taiwan's most prominent wine collectors, announced in 2019 that he was too old to continue managing his collection. From that point on, Chen began selling off his estimated 10,000-bottle collection. This is said to have taken place via the two companies Top 100 Wine and UMC, among others. Many of the counterfeit bottles, including the aforementioned Coche-Dury and a purported 1995 Roumier with a cork stamped "1998," have been traced back to Chen's cellar.
A real estate tycoon recalled Chen's habit of beginning each meeting by opening a bottle of Romanée-Conti. Chen, however, argued that with such an extensive collection, it is impossible for all the wines to be flawless. "But linking me to the sale of counterfeit wines is exaggerated," Chen said, adding that the taste might seem similar if "the wine temperature is too high."
The news from Taiwan is rather inconvenient for the auction house Sotheby's. It is currently auctioning off the wine collection of Wood Chen's brother Pierre, who, as Vino Joy reported in mid-July, is also a very important collector. His collection, "The Epicurean's Atlas", is expected to realise a good US$50m in the end.
The first two batches of the collection have already set several world records, with the final tranche scheduled to be auctioned in November of this year. Despite no evidence linking the collections of the two brothers, the connection has led to questions. When “The Drinks Business” sought a comment from Sotheby’s, the auction house responded, “We have full confidence in the provenance of the bottles we are selling from Pierre Chen’s collection.” Each wine’s origin and source are documented, and, beyond Sotheby’s standard authentication procedures, select bottles have undergone “additional rigorous scrutiny” by Michael Egan, a leading global expert in wine authentication.
This added scrutiny aims to reassure buyers amidst the broader controversy and concerns about wine authenticity, highlighting the impact of the scandal on high-profile wine transactions. Stefan Pegatzky
This article has been updated on August 6, 2024.
