High-tech method: Though it can confirm a wine's provenance, the technique falls short of guaranteeing anything its quality.
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Radioactive clues
To prevent counterfeiters from filling authentic old bottles with ordinary plonk, Williams said the company intends to combine the ion beam test with another established method that checks for levels of a radioactive isotope, caesium 137, in the wine itself.
This technique, however, is only effective in identifying wines made in the era of heavy atomic weapons testing in the later half of the 20th century.
The ion beam technology unveiled Tuesday, though, depends on comparison with genuine bottles. "We are working with the various chateaux to develop a database of benchmark references," said Williams, adding that more than 100 bottles from some of Bordeaux's most prestigious houses had been tested so far.
He has also set his sights on the prized Burgundy region in north-eastern France, and said a service geared toward wine collectors, wine merchants and auction houses will be available by late November.
No guarantee of quality
While the new test can verify the age of the bottle, it cannot guarantee the quality of the wine. The ion beam analysis correctly dated bottles of German wine recovered from a German ship, the Deutschland, that sank in a storm off the coast of England in 1875, Williams said. "The wine, however, wasn't very good. We still had a headache six months later," he said.
Other technologies developed in the last few years to combat fine wine fraud include water marks and holograms on labels – much like those used on bank notes – along with bar codes and UV-sensitive markings. Hardys, part of Constellation Wines Australia, now inserts DNA material from 100-year-old vines in tamper-proof neck labels on its top bottles.
