Spanish Counterfeit Ring Targets China Again With ‘Royal Wine’

Spanish authorities have uncovered yet another wine counterfeiting operation involving fake Rioja wines exported to China—marking the second such case aimed at the Asian market that Spanish police have cracked in 2025.

The investigation, codenamed Operation Alduo, centred around a wine trading company in La Rioja Baja. Two suspects, aged 36 and 42, were found to have exported 3,567 bottles of falsely labelled wine to China. The company, not certified under the DOCa Rioja designation, had also sold some of the falsified wine domestically in Spain.

The probe began in January 2025. During an initial inspection, police discovered several irregularities with the wine labels, which appeared crudely affixed by hand rather than applied using standardised machinery. Further investigation revealed the company was using a “label-switching” tactic: it initially commissioned legitimate Rioja wineries to bottle genuine wine under its registered brand, but once those stocks were depleted, it began sourcing lower-quality wine from other wineries and even supermarkets. Workers then removed the original labels and capsules using hot water, adhesive removers, and scrapers, retaining only the official authenticity seals. The bottles were then rebranded with homemade labels and sold as premium wines.

Among the victims of the fraud were a renowned musical organiser in Madrid and several buyers from Asia. More than 3,500 counterfeit bottles were exported to China, falsely labelled as “Crianza” quality. The back labels even boasted that the wine was “Wine of the Spanish Royal Family”—a baseless claim.

Armed with sufficient evidence, police secured a judicial search warrant and raided the company’s facilities, arresting several workers caught in the act of re-labelling. Tools seized at the scene included hot glue guns, wax seals, embossing devices, and forged labels—alongside paperwork detailing the operation. Workers were found removing original labels and capsules, keeping only the official seals, and reapplying counterfeit branding to pass the wine off as premium quality.

Notably, this is the second Rioja wine fraud case uncovered in Spain this year. In February, police launched Operation Epígrafe, targeting a gang that had filled 5- to 15-litre bag-in-box containers with wine from outside the Rioja region. These were exported to Vietnam, where they were re-bottled and falsely labelled as Rioja wines before being shipped across Asia. That case is estimated to have involved millions of dollars’ worth of fake wine.

Both cases share a common thread: large volumes of counterfeit wine being directed at the Chinese market. In Operation Epígrafe, authorities found that the gang had already exported over 24,000 litres of fake wine by the time of arrest.

Label forgery can be difficult to detect with the naked eye—especially in markets outside Europe where familiarity with Spanish regional labelling norms is lower. Once such products evade domestic controls, they can easily circulate undetected in international markets.

The two suspects have been formally charged with industrial property infringement and consumer fraud. The case remains under ongoing judicial review.