BOGUS BOTTLES OF JACOB’S CREEK

It’s not just high end wines that are being counterfeited. Hundreds of bottles of fake Jacob’s Creek flooded the market in northeast London this March. Pernod Ricard, owner of Jacob’s Creek, launched an investigation after receiving numerous complaints from customers about the quality of the wine they had bought and officers seized 34O bottles of fake wine from 19 retailers across the Havering borough. While the contents of the counterfeit Jacob’s Creek is of “substandard taste”, the council emphasized that the wine poses no health risk if consumed. William Adams, Chief Trading Standards Officer at Havering council, said the bottles had been imported from China and were being sold at around the same price as genuine Jacob’s Creek. He said the only obvious sign of fraud was the missing ‘A’ in the spelling of Australia on the lower bottom back label. Perhaps Jacob’s Creek should invest in bubble tags. And the counterfeiters should invest in spell check.