Cracking a $30m case of wine fraud
How wine detective Maureen Downey uncovered a huge counterfeiting operation.
Fill your glasses, today we celebrate the work of the sommeliers of both wine and water.
In the world of fine wines some people spend tens of thousands of dollars on single bottles. But it is also an industry that has been plagued with fakes. Maureen Downey is a 'wine detective' who uncovered a multi-million dollar wine counterfeiting operation. She spoke to Outlook in 2018.
Michael Masha says that when he takes a bottle of 4000-year-old iceberg water to a party, it goes down much better than an expensive champagne. He's an Austrian water sommelier who discovered the trade when a serious health condition meant he could no longer drink wine. His story was first broadcast in 2017.
Joseph Dhafana was living in South Africa as a Zimbabwean refugee and down on his luck when he discovered he had a rare talent for detecting aromas in wine. He went on to take the wine-tasting world by storm and took the first all-black team to the World Wine Tasting Championships.
Get in touch: outlook@bbc.com
Presenter: Jo Fidgen
(Photo: Maureen Downey. Credit: Jonathan Wong/South China Morning Post via Getty Images)
Last on
More episodes
Broadcasts
- Wed 17 Aug 2022 11:06GMT大象传媒 World Service
- Wed 17 Aug 2022 17:06GMT大象传媒 World Service except East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa
- Wed 17 Aug 2022 21:06GMT大象传媒 World Service East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa only
- Thu 18 Aug 2022 02:06GMT大象传媒 World Service