Yellow Tail owner seeks to reassure shoppers over counterfeit bottles

The owner of Yellow Tail has sought to reassure shoppers after a leading fraud expert said the UK was being “flooded” with knock-offs of popular brands.

Responding to claims made by Maureen Downey on the Wine Blast podcast that organised criminals were producing “high-end counterfeits” of labels such as Yellow Tail, Simon Lawson, MD of Casella Family Brands Europe, said the number of fake Yellow Tail bottles was “minimal and confined to a very small number of independent convenience stores”.

Downey’s assertion that an Asian organised crime gang had “partnered with a European organised wine gang” to flood the market with counterfeit Yellow Tail “referred to an issue in 2019, a small part of which made it to the UK, and this has since been largely resolved”, he insisted.

“We continue to work closely with Trading Standards to minimise the risk of counterfeit Yellow Tail wines reaching consumers,” he added.

Casella Family Brands Europe’s supply chain was “extremely robust” and there was no risk of counterfeit bottles being purchased from “all major supermarkets, wholesalers and off-licences”, said Lawson.

“We take pride in our ability to trace our wines directly back to our winery in Yenda, Australia, guaranteeing the highest quality products,” he said. “If consumers suspect they have encountered a counterfeit product, we encourage them to report it. We will assist in verifying the authenticity of the Yellow Tail wine purchased.”

Speaking on the Wine Blast podcast, Downey said those who regularly drank Yellow Tail would be able to tell the difference between counterfeit and real bottles, but it could be harder for those who only drank the brand infrequently.

“If you drink Coca-Cola every day and somebody gives you a Pepsi, you’re going to know the difference,” she added.

In 2021, KVK supermarket in Birmingham had its alcohol licence removed after a Trading Standards investigation found 41 fake bottles of Yellow Tail, following customer complaints that the bottles did not taste right.

The following year, 142 bottles of counterfeit Yellowtail were found in a shop in Leicestershire.