"Watertight paper trail" only way to ensure provenance at auction

By Jo Gilbert

Published: 01 June, 2016

A UK auctioneer is stressing the importance of having watertight paperwork to prevent wine fraud following speculation that top Burgundy lots offered by a Swiss auction house were counterfeit.

Auction houses are no stranger to opportunistic fraudsters who take advantage of top wines' high price points and the fact that wines can't be opened and tested before sale.

Most recently, scandal rocked an auctioneers in Geneva when an American wine expert called into question authenticity of a treasure trove of Romanée-Conti - the world's most expensive wine.

This follows an incident back in December, when a Hong Kong auction house came under fire after the provenance of certain wines at its inaugural sale were questioned.

Caspar Bowes, CEO of UK-based auction site GrapePip, is highlighting the importance of taking a safety first approach to prevent opportunistic fraudsters taking advantage of the lucrative industry.

"Wine can go all round the world and arrive without sufficient checks," he said. "But increasingly, people of integrity are making sure they have the right paperwork. If you have really nice car like a Ferrari, every time you get serviced, a responsible person should keep their paperwork. It just reassures the buyers and shows that you're the kind of person who takes care of their wines."

Bowes founded GrapePip three years ago, and the business model was inspired by the rising tide of wine fraud at auction.

He says a major problem in the industry is the amount of people who do not keep invoices - and he is constantly solicited by buyers who do not have the correct paperwork to ensure a wine's provenance.

"I'm contacted almost on a daily basis by people who don't have the right paperwork," he added. "I say to them - there are a lot of people out there who would be happy to sell it for you, but not me."

As technology develops and fraudsters adopt ever more high-tech techniques, Bowes says he has seen other auction houses and websites adopting the same approach as GrapePip.

However, he believes that the element of risk it too much of a draw for buyers for the model to properly take off.

"Traditionally, people go to auctions looking for a bargain, and are willing to compromise on the risk of provenance. Customers sometimes say to us 'you don't have many bargains'. That's because we don't take risks."

He added: "In the Far East especially they have a fraud problem. We've spoken to lots of people who have bought at auction out there and have been terribly disappointed.

"If you come up with a creative preventative measure, then fraudsters will find a way around it. Unfortunately, the only way to make wine unattractive to fraudsters is if all wine drops to £5 a bottle. Until then, we have to re-think what measures we take to re-assure customers."

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