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The American wine counterfeiter Rudy Kurniawan, who has served seven years in prison, is apparently back in the wine business. He is now legally producing copies of icons such as 1990 DRC Romanée-Conti, 1990 Petrus, 1990 Domaine Jacques-Frédéric Mugnier Le Musigny and 1982 Château Cheval Blanc on behalf of wealthy customers, who taste them blind alongside the originals.
Wine fraud expert Maureen Downey of winefraud.com explained that at at least two events, billionaires in Singapore had opened some of their best wines and tasted versions of these wines commissioned by Kurniawan to compare them. According to Downey, the wines would be tasted blind side by side, but the fake versions would be more appealing to guests because they were fresher. "This really appeals to the public, although it's amazing to me that people pay him for his company and also for the fact that he fakes wine.".
In 2014, Rudy Kurniawan was the first wine counterfeiter in the USA to be sentenced to ten years in prison. Between 2004 and 2012, he had sold counterfeit premium wines to unsuspecting collectors for around 1.3 million dollars. (The picture shows counterfeit DRC labels from his workshop). He also deposited counterfeit wines as collateral for a loan of three million dollars and allegedly sold 12,000 counterfeit bottles at an auction in 2006.
Kurniawan must pay more than 28 million dollars in compensation to his victims. He was released in November 2020 and deported to his native Indonesia in April 2021. His case was made into the Netflix documentary "Sour Grapes".
(al / source: wine-searcher.com, winefraud.com)