China became the world’s fifth largest consumer of wine in 2011 and is forecast to become the second largest importer by 2015; in large part driven by the 300-400 million people in the country’s expanding middle class that now has disposable income unheard of even 20 years ago and the prestigious social and public image that wine carries with it. Australia is the number two wine exporter to China after France and it is experiencing an increase of 20% in exports annually as demand in China outstrips domestic production. Because China’s middle class are new to wines, the situation is ripe for counterfeiters and fraud. Eiswein, Champagne, and ‘grand cru’ Bordeaux are all popular wines to be counterfeited. To read more about the Chinese wine industry and the practice there of counterfeiting wines:
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