Fake Wine Take II

The news (which broke on May 8 and was reported again yesterday by Jancis Robinson) that the White Club is less than kosher, comes hot on the heals of the Vinimark MCC Scandal. It is quite amusing to see SA wine identities running for cover claiming they knew René Dehn (below) was dodgy all along. Did any of the bloodhounds at his R15K a pop tastings ever smell rat pie? Is this the end of SA first growths?

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There’s a new bubble in the Vinimark affair. It looks like Food24.com owe the Krone family an apology for implying it was all their fault – that they ordered the exploding bottles and Vinimark were merely fixing their problem.

Food24 reported last week “In 2012, the brand was bought by Vinimark, a large distribution company which also makes various wines under its own labels. In buying the brand, they also bought the existing stock and this is when they discovered a problem with the strength of the bottles on the 2010 vintage – they were too flimsy to withstand the enormous pressure from the bubbles inside and were thus exploding. In an effort to rectify this, they decanted the wine out into a pressurised tank and re-bottled it in stronger bottles.”

Vinimark bought half the brand eight years ago according to Tim James who blogged in January last year “Vinimark’s role and investment in the House of Krone has been substantial since it bought half the brand some seven years ago.” So who ordered the bottles? Let’s hope this half-the-story reportage is a simple mistake and not corporate spin at work.

How ironic that the Krone’s financial woes were first caused by dodgy bubbly bottles from Consol Glass and now a new bottle scandal affects Vinimark, the Cap Classique Association and the whole category.