(Wine Searcher) - Say "fake wine" and "China" and visions of global brands dance in people's heads. "Lafite" spelled with dozens of different twists. Lookalikes of Penfolds ("Penfriends" anyone?) and YellowTail (with zombie-like kangaroos). You can even find a white wine from a red Burgundy producer featuring a Bordeaux logo and a place of origin nowhere near either region. Truth be told, there is an eclectic range of borrowed names and fonts, colors and castles, from wineries spanning the globe. And that includes Chinese brands.

In 2017, investigators in Shaanxi province found dodgy wine in several of the ubiquitous mom 'n' pop-style cigarette and booze shops that blanket the nation. But these weren't just French or Australian labels – they also hailed from Changyu, the nation's oldest and biggest wine maker. The investigators traced the wines to a nearby warehouse and found 6000 more fakes, including those of fellow domestic mega producer Great Wall.