London, Feb. 10: A wealthy customer visiting the Zafferano, a Michelin-starred restaurant in London's upmarket Knightsbridge area, has returned a bottle of wine that costs 18,000 pounds, declaring it to be a fake.

Staff were reportedly delighted when three customers asked for a magnum of Pétrus 1961 - one of the greatest vintages of one of the greatest wines in the world - which they had reserved from the cellars several weeks before.

Unfortunately, however, they were a little too discerning. As the magnum was uncorked, they declared it a fake, refused to touch the bottle and sent it back. One of the three customers, a young smart Englishman, refused to accept the Pétrus after he spotted that the cork did not carry the authenticating stamps.

Enzo Cassini, the general manager of the restaurant who had come in on his day off to serve the Pétrus personally, also took a sip of the wine and declared it undrinkable, reports The Sunday Telegraph.

"It tasted of vegetable, a bit mouldy. It was definitely not good," he said.

The restaurant called in the "Pétrus police", from Corney and Barrow, a wine bar chain who are agents for the producer in Britain. Their investigations into the authenticity of the magnum proved inconclusive.

The customer who questioned the authenticity of the Petrus 1961, went on to order Zafferano's most expensive bottle, a magnum of Mouton Rothschild 1945 for 20,000 pounds, the paper said. (ANI)