The Billionaire’s Vinegar: The Mystery of the World’s Most Expensive Bottle of Wine
The Billionaire’s Vinegar: The Mystery of the World’s Most Expensive Bottle of Wine It was the most expensive bottle of wine ever sold.
In 1985, at a heated auction by Christie’s of London, a 1787 bottle of Ch teau Lafite Bordeaux—one of a cache of bottles unearthed in a bricked-up Paris cellar and supposedly owned by Thomas Jefferson—went for $156,000 to a member of the Forbes family. The discoverer of the bottle was pop-band manager turned wine collector Hardy Rodenstock, who had a knack for finding extremely old and exquisite wines. But rumors about the bottle soon arose. Why wouldn’t Rodenstock reveal the exact location where it had been found? Was it part of a smuggled Nazi hoard? Or did his reticence conceal an even darker secret?
It would take more than two decades for those questions to be answered and involve a gallery of intriguing players—among them Michael Broadbent, the bicycle-riding British auctioneer who speaks of wines as if they are women and staked his reputation on the record-setting sale; Serena Sutcliffe, Broadbent’s elegant archrival, whose palate is covered by a hefty insurance policy; and Bill Koch, the extravagant Florida tycoon bent on exposing the truth about Rodenstock.
Pursuing the story from Monticello to London to Zurich to Munich and beyond, Benjamin Wallace also offers a mesmerizing history of wine, complete with vivid accounts of subterranean European laboratories where old vintages are dated and of Jefferson’s colorful, wine-soaked days in France, where he literally drank up the culture.
Suspenseful, witty, and thrillingly strange, The Billionaire’s Vinegar is the vintage tale of what could be the most elaborate con since the Hitler diaries. It is also the debut of an exceptionally powerful new voice in narrative non-fiction.
Customer Review: Wine fakes, an increasing and serious business
Fakes are common: From LVMH ladies’ bags to wine. And we are just at the beginning. If Petrus is making 30,000 bottles a year there may be 300,000 on the market. I have met counterfeits twice: Some years ago Le Pin and quite recently Romann -Conti. So stay alert And widen your knowledge about this particular industry by reading the excellent book ‘The Billionaire’s Vinegar. Just as exciting as a novel by Agatha Christie and full of knowledge and facts not easily available for us commoners. And the book is real!!!!!
Customer Review: Wait until the last chapter is written
The Billionaire’s Vinegar is a wonderful, but incomplete story. As other reviewers note, the dispute that is at the center of this book has a long way to go before it’s resolved. In early Spring of ’08, a New York judge ruled in favor of the “bad guy” Hardy Rodenstock, but Koch, his relentless pursuer, is still seeking legal satisfaction. This story has yet to have it’s final chapter written; but this book makes a very compelling start to recording the tale.
Besides the story of Rodenstock and his clearly fake Thomas Jefferson purchased wines, is the story of the elite wine trade. All of the famous wine critics, Broadbent, Shanken, Parker, Robinson etc. appear to come off as a bit foolish in falling for what are revealed as fakes. Given the susceptability of these people to fall for the apparent prestige of old Ch. Lafite, Petrus, etc.; along with the revelations in a documentary movie about Wine Spectator’s James Suckling giving a high rating to a wine for someone he had a business relationship with, makes one wonder about whose advice can be trusted.
As a regular wine consumer, I find that the lesson of this story and others is to get to know your local wine merchant, make friends, and trust your own judgement. The magazines etc may lead you to some interesting and wonderful finds, but don’t be too pursuaded by inflated ratings and correspondingly inflated prices.
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