香
港一些拍卖行已采取了在拍卖葡萄酒之前、开箱查验的政策，这项政策的实施让人发现了一些意想不到的坏结果。
Crown Wine Cellars
香港皇冠酒窖的藏酒室
但这一现象正在发生改变，特别是在香港。为符合香港很多拍卖行的规定，原木箱葡萄酒在拍卖前，需打开原包装以验明正身。在近来大热的葡萄酒拍卖市场上，这意味着很多自18-19世纪以来就原封未动的陈年佳酿现在要重见天日了，而有些原木箱的内在品质并不像广告里吹嘘的那么好。
迪耶伯说，那些100年前在法国某个古老酒庄包装这些葡萄酒的人，不管是谁有可能偶尔顺了一瓶回家或从架上错拿了一瓶，这都不奇怪。他还补充说，或者包装人员数错了，装箱时少装了一两瓶。一件原木箱应该有12瓶种类相同的葡萄酒。
香港拍卖公司苏富比(Sotheby's)亚洲区葡萄酒主管楼伯礼(Robert Sleigh)说，他就见过原木箱打开后，发现人为失误而贴错标签或包装出错等例子。即使这样，他说，这类情况也非常少见。
但迪耶伯说，皇冠酒窖的客户由于开箱查验、取来自饮或转卖他人等原因打开原木箱时，会在每批运送的原木箱里发现3%-5%的出错率。(迪耶伯认为这种情况极为罕见，他甚至会安装相机将这一幕拍摄下来，同时也向客户证明不是皇冠酒窖员工捣的鬼。)
那些发现自己拍下的原木箱有任何差错的皇冠酒窖的客户，现正与进口商和葡萄酒庄园协商，以获得赔偿。迪耶伯说，协商过程持续很久，是否能得到赔偿还要具体问题具体分析。
鉴于近来很多投资者为收藏葡萄酒名酿不惜花费天价──一件原木箱拉菲堡(hateau Lafite Rothschild)可拍至上万美元，因此“原木箱诈骗”可带来相当大的经济损失。
迪耶伯提醒投资者说，为了保护自己的权益，在购买葡萄酒时，一定要确切知道自己买的是什么，要眼见为实地看见瓶装酒或查验原木箱，不要怕遭卖家的白眼。另外，他还说，一定要有保证书，甚至拿到葡萄酒的照片和存放葡萄酒的具体地址。
Amy Ma
（本文版权归道琼斯公司所有，未经许可不得翻译或转载。）
Some auction houses in Hong Kong have adopted a policy of opening wine cases - and discovered some nasty surprises.
It used to be that premium wine cases were kept sealed, says Gregory De'eb, general manager for Crown Wine Cellars. OWCs, or 'original wooden cases,' he says, resell for prices 20% to 30% higher than wines that are repackaged. For that reason, most prudent wine investors leave their cases untouched. In fact, many cases never leave the original winery.
That's changing, especially in Hong Kong. To comply with a policy many auction houses here have, a case is opened before it is sold, to verify its contents. With the frothy fine-wine market these days, that means a lot of heretofore sealed cases from the 18th and 19th century are now seeing the light of day. And sometimes the contents aren't, well, as advertised.
'It's no surprise that whoever was packaging these wines in an old chateau in France,' a century ago, says Mr. De'eb, 'may have taken the occasional bottle home or grabbed a wrong bottle off the shelf.' Or, he adds, they miscounted and forgot a bottle or two. A case is supposed to hold 12 bottles of the same kind.
Sotheby's head of wines for Asia, Robert Sleigh, says he has witnessed some instances of human error in labeling or packaging when cases were finally opened. Even so, 'these mistakes are rare,' says Mr. Sleigh.
But at Crown Wine Cellars, Mr. De'eb says his team discovers a 'faulty' case or two - opened when clients want to survey the contents, drink the wine or resell it - in 3% to 5% of every shipment. (Mr. De'eb deemed the situation so extreme, in fact, that he installed cameras to make sure - and prove to clients - that Crown staff members weren't to blame.)
Crown clients who were owners of the faulty cases are now working with merchants and vineyards to get reimbursed. 'The process is long,' says Mr. De'eb, 'and the success rate depends on a case-by-case basis.'
With the kind of money many investors are paying for premium wines these days - a case of Chateau Lafite Rothschild can sell for tens of thousands of dollars - 'case fraud' can pose a potentially significant financial loss.
To protect yourself 'when you buy wine,' cautions Mr. De'eb, 'make sure you know exactly what you're paying for. Don't be afraid to push to see the actual bottles or inspect them. Ask for guarantees, even photos of your wines and the exact addresses of the storage facilities they are being kept in.'
Amy Ma
It used to be that premium wine cases were kept sealed, says Gregory De'eb, general manager for Crown Wine Cellars. OWCs, or 'original wooden cases,' he says, resell for prices 20% to 30% higher than wines that are repackaged. For that reason, most prudent wine investors leave their cases untouched. In fact, many cases never leave the original winery.
That's changing, especially in Hong Kong. To comply with a policy many auction houses here have, a case is opened before it is sold, to verify its contents. With the frothy fine-wine market these days, that means a lot of heretofore sealed cases from the 18th and 19th century are now seeing the light of day. And sometimes the contents aren't, well, as advertised.
'It's no surprise that whoever was packaging these wines in an old chateau in France,' a century ago, says Mr. De'eb, 'may have taken the occasional bottle home or grabbed a wrong bottle off the shelf.' Or, he adds, they miscounted and forgot a bottle or two. A case is supposed to hold 12 bottles of the same kind.
Sotheby's head of wines for Asia, Robert Sleigh, says he has witnessed some instances of human error in labeling or packaging when cases were finally opened. Even so, 'these mistakes are rare,' says Mr. Sleigh.
But at Crown Wine Cellars, Mr. De'eb says his team discovers a 'faulty' case or two - opened when clients want to survey the contents, drink the wine or resell it - in 3% to 5% of every shipment. (Mr. De'eb deemed the situation so extreme, in fact, that he installed cameras to make sure - and prove to clients - that Crown staff members weren't to blame.)
Crown clients who were owners of the faulty cases are now working with merchants and vineyards to get reimbursed. 'The process is long,' says Mr. De'eb, 'and the success rate depends on a case-by-case basis.'
With the kind of money many investors are paying for premium wines these days - a case of Chateau Lafite Rothschild can sell for tens of thousands of dollars - 'case fraud' can pose a potentially significant financial loss.
To protect yourself 'when you buy wine,' cautions Mr. De'eb, 'make sure you know exactly what you're paying for. Don't be afraid to push to see the actual bottles or inspect them. Ask for guarantees, even photos of your wines and the exact addresses of the storage facilities they are being kept in.'
Amy Ma
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