ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
How much would you spend on a bottle of wine? Maybe you miss the days of Two-Buck Chuck, or maybe you even subscribe to the NPR Wine Club.
SHAPIRO: How much would you spend on a bottle of wine? Maybe you miss the days of Two-Buck Chuck, or maybe you even subscribe to the NPR Wine Club.
SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
Ari, what if you paid 15,000 euros only...
SHAPIRO: You must have me confused with someone else.
SHAPIRO: You must have me confused with someone else.
DETROW: (Laughter) And then it wasn't even good. Only to find out that it wasn't even the wine it listed on the label - it happens to me all the time.
SHAPIRO: All the time - six people have been arrested in Italy and France in connection with a crime ring selling fake grand cru wines. Grand cru is a term for a class of high-end, typically French wines.
SHAPIRO: All the time - six people have been arrested in Italy and France in connection with a crime ring selling fake grand cru wines. Grand cru is a term for a class of high-end, typically French wines.
DETROW: Of course. It turns out the fraudulent bottles had counterfeit corks, labels and seals of well-known, high-end French wineries, which were then being sold for up to 15,000 euros a bottle. Eurojust - one of the EU agencies supporting the French, Italian and Swiss authorities that conducted the investigation - reported the crime ring profited over 2 million euros.
SHAPIRO: This is just one bust in a billion-dollar world of wine fraud. As high-end wines have gotten even more expensive in the last decade or so, it's become more lucrative for scammers to fake the bottles and fill them with the cheap stuff.
SHAPIRO: This is just one bust in a billion-dollar world of wine fraud. As high-end wines have gotten even more expensive in the last decade or so, it's become more lucrative for scammers to fake the bottles and fill them with the cheap stuff.
DETROW: No word on how the frauds tasted or what cheese paired best. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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