The importance of buying wine from trustworthy sources has been underlined, after an article revealed the extent of wine forgery and some of the sophisticated techniques wineries are using to counter them.

In the Malaysia Star, Ed Soon said some of the favourite targets for fraudsters include chateaux Margaux 1900, Mouton Rothschild 1945, Lafleur 1947, Petrus 1961 and Le Pin 1982.

Although often the forgery is a simple and easily-detectable case of relabeling, some high-profile cases have prompted companies to take radical steps to protect their reputation.

Italian label manufacturer Modulgraf, for instance, has developed a "talking" wine label which can be played like a CD, while the American Chemical Society uses atmospheric atomic bomb testing techniques to identify wines to the vintage.

"Beware of corks with incorrect vintage stamps, and mismatched bottle and label markings," advised Mr Soon.

"For old reds, watch out for an unusually deep colour, a 'young' taste, or the lack of sediment in the bottle."

One of the most famous wine forgeries of all time, concerning a cache of claret ostensibly owned by Thomas Jefferson, prompted the FBI to take an interest in the global wine fraud business in 2007.