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

Selected Book Details

  • Hardcover
  • Edition: 1
  • Author: Benjamin Wallace
  • Publisher: Crown
  • Release Date: May 2008
  • ISBN-10: B002SB8PKQ
  • ISBN-13: B002SB8PKQ
  • List Price: $24.95

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Summaries and Customer Reviews provided by Amazon

Summary

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 Château 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 Reviews

Average Rating: Score = 4.0 Score = 4.0 Score = 4.0 Score = 4.0 Score = 4.0

A great read even for those who know little about wine

Rating: Score = 4 Score = 4 Score = 4 Score = 4 Score = 4

I know next to nothing about wine, but it didn't stop me - and it shouldn't stop you - from enjoying Benjamin Wallace's expertly researched and wonderfully told tale about the world of high-priced, 200+ year-old trophy wine. There's the complaint registered often here on these review pages that Wallace's ending falls a little flat...that it misses a slam-dunk "Murder, She Wrote" type-ending that is called for to bring these proceedings to some type of righteous denouement.

As is often the case, that's not real life. In real life, the con man ends up picking the wrong mark...a man with a long-standing predilection for recourse via legal means and the money to outlast any adversary. It's those advantages that result in judgments that leave the con man - while not convicted - at the least "discredited." There's no sobbing "the gig is up" confession here.

Wallace's book features many excellent deep-dives on matters like Thomas Jefferson's European travels and his position as US' first premier oenophile; the wine auction business of Christie's and Sotheby's; the murky world of 'Hardy Rodenstock' (who keeps pulling Jefferson bottles out of thin air); the passions of collectors Malcom Forbes, Kip Forbes, Bill Koch and others; and other interesting topics that deepen our appreciation for the business and why this mania exists.

As Wallace notes at the end, a con involves two willing participants: the con man and his marks. The Billionaire's Vinegar shows you how the con man plays on the passion and competitiveness of these avid collectors.

Billionaire's Vinegar loses lawsuit against Michael Broadbent

Rating: Score = 2 Score = 2 Score = 2 Score = 2 Score = 2

My father has successfully sued The Billionaire's Vinegar.

The press release reads:
The libel action centred on the book The Billionaire's Vinegar, the subject of which was the provenance of a number of bottles of wine said to have been owned by Thomas Jefferson. The book made allegations which suggested that Mr Broadbent had behaved in an unprofessional manner in the way in which he had auctioned some of these bottles and that his relationship and dealings with Hardy Rodenstock, who discovered the original collection, was suspected of being improper.

In a statement read out in open court today, Random House apologised unreservedly for making the allegations and accepted that they were untrue. It has given an undertaking not to repeat the allegations and paid Mr Broadbent undisclosed damages.

Commenting on the settlement Sarah Webb, head of Russell Jones & Walker's Defamation department, who acted for Mr Broadbent said:

"The Billionaire's Vinegar made highly damaging claims about my client that seriously compromised both his professional and personal reputation. We are delighted that Random House has today accepted that these allegations are totally without foundation and avoided the need to proceed to a full trial. My client is relieved that the good name he has built up over many years as one of the country's leading wine experts has been fully restored."

best savored slowly

Rating: Score = 4 Score = 4 Score = 4 Score = 4 Score = 4

A wonderful read focusing on greed, history and wine. It did plummet to a non-ending but I loved the tales of Jefferson rambling in France and the fake corks used to sell fake wine. Fun.

Dry, dry, dry

Rating: Score = 2 Score = 2 Score = 2 Score = 2 Score = 2

I wanted to read this book because the idea of buying and selling 200 year old wine just for the sake of owning it seems ludicrous to me. As I got further into the book, I realized that the amateur wine drinker would have no idea what the author was talking about unless he had an in depth knowledge of French wines. It goes to show you that the ultra rich look at wine as a possession-Forbes got exactly what he deserved in my book. He didn't care that the wine was ruined, or even if it was genuine. I myself would love to be able to have the experience of tasting a 200 year old Montrachet or Chateau Y'quem, but doubt it will ever happen as I do not have the disposable income of the small circle of people who can afford such things. This book was utterly boring where it could have been very interesting. Don't bother.

The counterfeiting scam that rocked the wine world.

Rating: Score = 5 Score = 5 Score = 5 Score = 5 Score = 5

"Rare wine may be the only luxury-priced commodity in the world that does not come with a guarantee of authenticity. The appearance of dishonest segments of society with only one objective, to take full advantage of the enormous opportunity that exists to make a quick buck by selling bogus wines, is not that shocking. This has always been a problem.......it is a subject that needs to be addressed."

This rather ominous warning sounded by the noted wine expert Robert H. Parker Jr. in 1996 seems to neatly sum up the state of affairs in the world of rare wines in the mid 1990's. Over the previous quarter century or so the market for old and rare wine had changed rather dramatically. It was no longer the exclusive purview of the old money men of European descent. With the world economy booming, there were lots of nouveau rich players from America and Asia who now had the money and craved the notoriety of being able to participate in this rather prestigious pastime. "The Billionaire's Vinegar: The Mystery of the World's Most Expensive Bottle of Wine" tells the tale of these frenzied years that saw the price of rare wines skyrocket. Author Benjamin Wallace gives his readers a look-see into a world that only the rich and famous previously had access to. It is at once a disturbing and riveting saga.

The story of "The Billionaire's Vinegar" seems to center around a rather shadowy figure named Hardy Rosenstock. Rosenstock was a German collector who claimed to be in possession of a cache of extraordinarily old and rare wines that were discovered in 1985 in the basement of a house about to be razed in Paris. Rosenstock claimed that one of the bottles was a Chateau Lafite from 1787 which many collectors considered to be the Holy Grail of rare wines. Furthermore, Rosenstock alleged that the initials "Th. J." carved into the bottle made it likely that the bottle had belonged to Thomas Jefferson, a connoisseur of fine wine who had spent several years in Paris and who was known to have purchased large quantities of wine during his time in the city. Rodenstock consigned his highly prized bottle to Christie's for auction. The auction would be conducted by another major player in this drama, Michael Broadbent, who was the highly respected head of Christie's wine department. Before placing the bottle on the auction block in December of 1985 Broadbent conducted what he considered to be a thorough investigation of the bottle and became convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that this bottle was authentic. At the extraordinary auction a member of the legendary Forbes family purchased this bottle for the record setting price of $156,000!

Meanwhile, there were rumblings that something was amiss here. Rumors persisted that the bottle that Kip Forbes purchased for his family was a fake. Officials from Monticello (the home of Thomas Jefferson) could not vouch for the bottle's authenticity. Over the next several years more and more of the bottles associated with Rodenstock were deemed suspicious. A feud would erupt between two of the world's most prestigious auction houses. Sotherby's alleged that Christie's was handling a lot of bottles for which no provenance existed. And while all this was going on the prices for these bottles continued to escalate as more and more well-heeled collectors deemed them desirable. Although most wine afficianados went to great lengths to keep the problem under wraps the situation was clearly getting out of control and needed to be addressed.

In "The Billionaire's Vinegar" Benjamin Wallace chronicles what went down over the next two decades before many of these thorny issues would finally be resolved. You will learn the techniques of those involved in producing the faux vino. You will also meet many of the wine afficianados who became victims of these scams and the man who finally resolved to do something about it. Finally, you will discover the new techologies that would once and for all resolve many of these long standing issues. "The Billionaire's Vinegar: The Mystery of the World's Most Expensive Bottle of Wine" is an exceptionally entertaining and well written book. I learned an awful lot about a topic I knew nothing about. Very highly recommended!