As counterfeit bottles of Australia's most famous wine, Penfolds Grange, continue to circulate, Penfolds' parent company Southcorp has instituted proceedings in the Federal Court in Melbourne in an attempt to bring to justice the fraudulent fakesters of pseudo Penfolds.

Word around the wine traps is that the offending 1990 vintage so-called Grunge is near-perfectly packaged. Apparently the fake packaging includes faux Grange tissue paper, look-alike six-pack Grange wooden boxes, and Grange-type corks. The labels, save for a couple of minor errors, would presumably fool the average wine drinker. One imbiber I met in a Carlton wine bar claimed to have actually seen an offending six-pack and to have consumed a bottle. "Good wine," he said, "definitely not Grange but would pass for a less expensive Penfolds red." Adding, "Makes you wonder whether it wasn't an inside job."

Meanwhile, ancient (and possibly undrinkable) bottles of Grange continue to maintain high prices at Australian auction houses. On 14 December 1998 a bottle of the 1951 vintage sold in Sydney for $21,000, this followed the record price of $24,500 set in Melbourne in late November. The previous record for this vintage was $20,460, realised in October. There are thought to be only 20 to 50 bottles of the '51 in existence as the wine, bottled in February 1952, was an experimental label and was never commercially released. (It is not known how many bottles of counterfeit Grange are in circulation. Though they may yet become black market collectors' items in their own right.)

And Grange prices, especially for earlier vintages, are expected to soar in 1999 as wealthy buyers, desperate to complete collections of all Grange vintages, boost the market. Capital city casinos are also aggressive buyers, presenting bottles of the prestige-ridden red to high-rolling gamblers to encourage their dubious custom.

© Martin Field