(AsiaOne) - Master of Wine Jeannie Cho Lee could tell instantly when she tasted fake wine at a Hong Kong dinner party. "Just from colour and the nose, once you taste it, it was confirmation that it wasn't the genuine wine," she said. But not everyone possesses Lee's acumen. China's booming appetite for fine wine in recent years has fueled a rampant counterfeit market that industry insiders fear could be turning local buyers off. "What we're seeing across the country is a proliferation of knock-offs and copycats and outright counterfeit as the imported wine industry really explodes in this market," said Ian Ford of Summergate Fine Wines in Shanghai, adding that counterfeiters are taking advantage of inexperienced Chinese consumers.