CCTV reports the State Food and Drug Administration last year issued a document that revealed many Chinese wines contain more than the maximum allowable volume of food additives. Even worse, CCTV's own investigation found many wines consist of little more than water, pigment and alcohol, with trace amounts of grape juice.

The CCTV reporter uncovered the "fake" wine scandal when investigating an extremely cheap wine produced in Minquan County, Henan Province. It looks just like other wines in terms of packaging and color, but it is more than 90 percent cheaper than most wines with a retail price of just one or two yuan.

When he interviewed the seller, the reporter discovered the wine is popular with wholesalers in other parts of China though locals reject it.

The reporter then investigated the local Xuming Wine Factory where the wine is produced. An official at the factory revealed the wine can be sold so cheaply because it is not produced from pure grape extracts, as stipulated by the national standards. Instead, the factory cuts costs by mixing a small volume of grape extract in a lot of water.

Five other local producers produced low quality wine through the same process, but all of their "fake" wine passed the local food safety administration's test.

Substandard wine was also discovered in Yantai in Shandong province, one of the largest wine-making regions in China.

A wine-maker from the local Shuicheng Wine Company told the reporter they add water, alcohol, flavors and pigments to their dry red wine. All of these ingredients are banned. He also disclosed the wine is mainly composed of water, with 5 liters of wine created from 5 liters of water.

A local industry insider later confirmed most local wine is produced in the same manner, highlighting the extent of the "fake" wine problem.

The "fake" wine revelations come hot on the heels of last year's spate of food security scares. The central government has now adopted a series of measures and regulations to curb the distribution and production of unsafe food problems.

From the beginning of the year, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce and General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine as well as the ministries of commerce and industry started supervising the food production and distribution processes more closely to protect consumers' health.