Pricey counterfeit labels proliferate as China wine market booms

Publish Date: 01-14-2012 09:09 PM -0800

China's resourceful knock-off artists have uncorked a lucrative business: phony high-end wines. Bootleggers douse the market with fakes, refilling bottles from famous chateaux with inferior vintages.

The lamb chops were cooked to perfection. Fine wines flowed. Then came the piece de resistance: a 1997 Chateau Petrus Pomerol that can fetch about $2,000 a bottle.