The Billionaire’s Vinegar: The Mystery of the World’s Most Expensive Bottle of Wine
Submitted by Wine Reviews from the Wine School
Reporter: Say listen, is he working on a case?
Nora Charles: Yes, he is.
Reporter: What case?
Nora Charles: A case of scotch. Pitch in and help him.
- From The Thin Man
A good mystery novel is defined by three elements: a twisting plot; intriguing characters; and –most importantly– a valuable object as a central character. Benjamin Wallace’s nonfiction book The Billionaire’s Vinegar hits all three points.
Readers of mystery novels are aware that a successful con relies on the collaboration of its “marks”. In The Billionaire’s Vinegar Wallace gives us the billionaire wine collector Malcolm Forbes, the millionaire Bill Kochs, and various other rich men willing to spend thousands on their wine-tastings. The group of “marks” also include some world-renowned wine critics: Michael Broadbent, Robert Parker and Jancis Robinson.
Most important of all is the central character of the book, a 1787 Chateau Lafite Bordeaux, purportedly owned by Thomas Jefferson.
Throw in an old-fashioned gumshoe, a forensic scientist or two, and you’ve a good read on your hands.
The mystery is, of course, a well-known story. The 1787 Lafite was bought at auction in 1985 at the record price of $156,000 by Malcolm Forbes. He wanted it as an addition to his Jefferson memorabilia, as well as a doozy of a showpiece. But the mystery doesn’t just begin and end with the 1787 Chateau Lafite. More supposed Jefferson bottles, not to mention numerous other questionable vintages of some of the finest Bordeaux – major and minor characters in their own right - turn up in this excellent page-turner; and eventually everyone’s assumptions, expertise, and desires are called into question.
Now a grift on this scale could not have been played out, let alone conceived, by just anybody. Enter former band manager, turned wine collector, turned connoisseur - the ever-mysterious and cagey Hardy Rodenstock. Rodenstock orchestrates his con well, and the scandal is served better still by having taken place at a time when American money, competition, idealism, and values collided in the materialistic ostentation that was the 1980s.
With a cool and detached demeanor, and deft hand, Benjamin Wallace brings to life this story through each of his characters’ comings, goings, speculations, and blunders. Better yet, it all really happened.
The Billionaire’s Vinegar is a fine, fine read – a page-turner of the best sort. For anyone who likes their wine and a little Hammett (or Simenon, for that matter), this is the book for you. And all you others? It may well be the book for you too.
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