China is one of the world's biggest wine consumers, importing nearly $1 billion worth of wine (67.9 million gallons) from the European Union last year. The growing appetite for the drink has brought with it a booming counterfeit market. One sales director tells Reuters that most wine counterfeiting happens "in secondary or third-tier cities where they don't have much wine knowledge." Expensive European, particularly French, wines are popular with fakers.

Spirit companies are eager to crack down on the frauds. Some companies have begun to use tamper-proof caps and authentication technologies; others even established bottle buyback programs. Some wine makers have their bottles smashed after tastings to prevent them from being illegally refilled.

Wine counterfeits may increase even more now that China has announced it will investigate wine imports from the EU, threatening anti-dumping tariffs or import curbs in response to Europe's anti-dumping duties on Chinese solar panels.