CEO of Mollydooker Wines, Sparky Marquis surveys the remnants of his finest red. PHOTO: MOLLYDOOKER WINES

Widely reported across the world, the forklift incident in Australia which resulted in the accidental destruction of over $1 million worth of fine wine has left the CEO of Mollydooker Wines, Sparky Marquis, feeling somewhat numb.

A forklift at a container loading yard near Adelaide was attempting to lift a container holding 462 dozen bottles of the company's finest red, the 2010 Mollydooker Velvet Glove priced at $185 a bottle, when one of the pins on the lifting point of the container sheared off, causing the forklift to drop the container on its side, a distance of five to six feet.

Marquis tells Forkliftaction.com News that he is 'super glad' that no-one was hurt in the incident which occurred on 15 July.

"The container manager said that when his team came and told him what had happened, he was looking around for cameras to see if it was some sort of 'Gotcha' hoax, but he realised that it was serious when nobody was laughing. He said his next thought was 'couldn't it have been the container of sand (the next container to be moved) and not the Mollydooker Velvet Glove?'.

"We are talking to our insurers and now starting to review every single bottle to see if there are any that are recoverable, but it doesn't look hopeful at the moment," says Marquis.

The wine was destined to be shipped to the US and, fortunately, the company still has another two-thirds of the production back at its winery which will hopefully be sent in time for the big launch on 15 September.