Who needs John Grisham when we’ve got real, live anti-counterfeit attorneys such as Nick Bartman running cloak-and-dagger operations in China to expose endemic levels of fraud in their domestic wine industry?

Jancis Robinson has just published a lengthy, five-part essay by Mr. Bartman that offers an incredibly detailed insight into what is going on in the Chinese wine industry right now. The first two articles are free to the public, no doubt due to Jancis’ desire for this information to be more widely known, and should be required reading for anyone in the wine industry.

The tribulations of Bartman and his team as they attempt to uncover the depth and breadth of fraud and fakery in China are nothing short of staggering. From printing presses hidden in secret rooms; to every manner of fake award, import license, and co-branding agreement; to increasingly sophisticated fake glass bottles, corks, and capsules; to fully synthetic wines with no trace of grapes in them; if you can imagine it, the Chinese are doing it.

I highly recommend this five part series of stories. They’ll blow your mind. Check them out.