4,200 Bottles of Fake Sassicaia

Bolgheri Super Tuscan Sassicaia is the target of a counterfeit operation

Italian police in Florence have seized 4,200 fake bottles of Super Tuscan Sassicaia.

The haul – mainly of the 2010 and 2015 vintages – is worth a street value of around €1.5 million.

The operation – codenamed Bad Tuscan – led to the arrests of two people.

Eleven others are under investigation for allegedly counterfeiting the Bolgheri Super Tuscan from Tenuta San Guido.

Italian investigators said the counterfeit wine originated from Sicily while the bottles were made in Turkey and the wooden cases came from Bulgaria.

‘The investigation began by chance when two members of the Guardia di Finanza – Financial Police – came upon a case of the fake wine on a street in Empoli in Tuscany, which had probably fallen from a truck.

‘In the case was a note with two mobile phone numbers, which set off the investigation and led to the arrest of two individuals who had carried out this fraud with meticulous care,’ said Giuseppe Creazzo, Chief Prosecutor in Florence, during a press conference.

According to investigators, several customers, including some from China, Korea and Russia, had already ordered about 1,000 cases at about 70% less than the cost if the wine were genuine.

The 4,200 bottles Italian police confiscated only amounted to 700 cases (packed in 6 bottles each).

This means we do not know how long the counterfeiters have been supplying fake wines.

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