The Billionaire's Vinegar: The Mystery of the World's Most Expensive Bottle of Wine
by Benjamin Wallace
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Book Summary Information
Author: Benjamin WallaceEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2009-04-14
ISBN: 0307338789
Number of pages: 336
Publisher: Three Rivers Press
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780307338785
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
- Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices
Book Reviews of The Billionaire's Vinegar: The Mystery of the World's Most Expensive Bottle of Wine
Book Review: A great read even for those who know little about wine
Summary: 4 Stars
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.
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Summary of The Billionaire's Vinegar: The Mystery of the World's Most Expensive Bottle of Wine
"Part detective story, part wine history, this is one juicy tale, even for those with no interest in the fruit of the vine. . . . As delicious as a true vintage Lafite." -BusinessWeekThe Billionaire's Vinegar tells the true story of a 1787 Ch?teau Lafite Bordeaux-supposedly owned by Thomas Jefferson-that sold for $156,000 at auction and of the eccentrics whose lives intersected with it. Was it truly entombed in a Paris cellar for two hundred years? Or did it come from a secret Nazi bunker? Or from the moldy basement of a devilishly brilliant con artist? As Benjamin Wallace unravels the mystery, we meet a gallery of intriguing players-from the bicycle-riding British auctioneer who speaks of wines as if they are women to the obsessive wine collector who discovered the bottle. Suspenseful and thrillingly strange, this is the vintage tale of what could be the most elaborate con since the Hitler diaries. Updated for paperback with a new epilogue.
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