LONDON (AP) — Anyone who spends the price of a new car on a single bottle of wine deserves the best — but a connoisseur at a Michelin-starred restaurant recently found his fancy vintage to be sub-par, and possibly a fake.

It happened at London's Zafferano restaurant when a regular customer ordered an £18,000 (US$35,000) magnum of 1961 Petrus wine last month. But when the cork was removed, it was not stamped with the standard mark proving where and when it had been made.

"The customer was angry when he saw that there was no mark on the cork," said general manager Enzo Cassini. "He didn't want to drink it anymore. He said, 'This could be a fake'."

Cassini said the bottle looked genuine to him, "but I tasted the wine and it was off. It was a big disappointment for the customer because he had brought over a friend from Italy. We have had to write off the Petrus."

Cassini said he saved the situation by selling his regular customer an alternative — a magnum of Mouton Rothschild 1945 for £20,000 (US$39,000, and it was a hit.

At Cassini's request, Corney & Barrow, an upmarket wine bar chain in London that acts as agents for Petrus — a small, well-regarded chateau in France — later examined the rejected bottle.

"We think it's genuine, but it's impossible to confirm because neither we or the chateau have records going back pre-1964," said Adam Brett-Smith, the chain's managing director. "1961 is a hell of a long time ago."

He acknowledged that so-called "trophy" wines that sell for big bucks sometimes turn out to be fake. Despite the risk of selling fine wines, Cassini said he would continue to do that at Zafferano — when he finds good, verifiable deals.

"It's prestige for top restaurants to have amazing wines on their lists," he said. "Life is too short to drink cheap wine."