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226th out of 1,210 books
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6,535 voters
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 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...more
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...more
Hardcover, 319 pages
Published
May 13th 2008
by Crown
(first published January 1st 2008)
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As wines are often described as drinkable, this book is eminently readable. If you liked the 1998 film "The Red Violin", or if you are ever (even occasionally) drawn in by Antiques Roadshow you will love this book. (And if you haven't seen "The Red Violin", you really should)
The epitome of narrative non-fiction, The Billionaire's Vinegar is the tale of a world gone mad with wine lust, historical infatuation and drunk on self-importance. The Billionaire's Vinegar is much more than the story of a...more
The epitome of narrative non-fiction, The Billionaire's Vinegar is the tale of a world gone mad with wine lust, historical infatuation and drunk on self-importance. The Billionaire's Vinegar is much more than the story of a...more
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Nonfiction that reads like a thriller. Carefully researched and well paced. People insult each other in various languages by saying things like, "The oak tree is not concerned with the pig that is scratching its back against the roots."
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A quick fun book, revealing a parallel universe where the wealthy and/or self-important spends hundreds of thousands of dollars for the chance to own a bottle of wine that may or not have belonged to Thomas Jefferson and in any case probably will not be worth drinking.A well-written non-fiction book that definitely kept my interest.
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My knowledge of wine is similar to the guy from Sideways who guzzles the glass down and declares "tastes pretty good to me!" For the reader who knows little about wine, this is a good introduction to the high-end world of wine collecting. The first 2/3 of the book is interesting and informative and reads like a good mystery, but the last chapters seem hastily thrown together. The book misses making some important conclusions about the ramifications of the Jefferson bottles on not only wine colle...more
Feb 05, 2009
Bookmarks Magazine
added it
Benjamin Wallace's magazine background helps him keep the many narrative threads in The Billionaire's Vinegar tight and engaging. In addition, Wallace exhibits a sharp eye for detail and character: Hardy Rodenstock, in particular,comes across as deliciously deceptive. Exploring what Jefferson's European tour of 1787 must have been like will likely interest even readers without a taste for wine, though connoisseurs will savor the author's descriptions of the clubby (and sometimes comically extrav
...more
Wallace's non-fiction accounts of the drama within the niche world of wine auctions may appear droll. However, with wine sales now eclipsing those of beer in the U.S., the niche may have expanded to a veritable corner of the market. For me, there are multiple lenses through which I enjoyed Wallace's work. The simplest is that of learning more about French wines. Beyond that, Wallace deftly blends history dating from the 1700's both in France and the U.S. with the late 20th and early 21st centuri...more
Novel-like account of many bottles of wine sold in high-priced auctions that are likely fakes. Mainly centers around bottles sourced by Hardy Rodenstock and auctioned by Michael Broadbent of Christies London, which were supposedly from the cellars of Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson was one of the first American wine connoisseurs, and acquired a large collection having frequently traveled to France. Rodenstock claimed to have found a hidden cache of his somewhere in Europe, but has never revealed the...more
On December 5th, 1985, a bottle of 1787 Lafite bordeaux, supposedly owned by Thomas Jefferson himself, sold at auction for the staggering price of $156,000. Christie’s Auction House had set a new record for the most expensive bottle of wine ever sold. The question was, however, was it authentic? Enter Michael Broadbent, head of Christie’s wine department, who auctioned the wine and specifically vouched for its authenticity (or provenance, as it is known in the wine world). Broadbent purchased th...more
The Billionaire’s Vinegar: The Mystery of the World’s Most Expensive Bottle of Wine, by Benjamin Wallace, is a work of narrative nonfiction, though it reads like a true who-done-it. There are no dead bodies, but there is intrigue galore, and sometimes it’s hard to know who the bad guys are.
The story begins in 1985, with the emergence of a group of 200-year old bottles of wine said to be from the collection of Thomas Jefferson when he lived in France. The collector who says he’s uncovered this st...more
The story begins in 1985, with the emergence of a group of 200-year old bottles of wine said to be from the collection of Thomas Jefferson when he lived in France. The collector who says he’s uncovered this st...more
Throughout this well-written and thoroughly researched book is the timeless truism known by every con artist in history...people are taken in because they WANT to be taken in! Hardy Rodenstock...an alias, and a moniker Charles Dickens would have loved...knew he could count on the greediness and the inflated egos of super rich wine snobs who wanted only to have the BEST, the MOST EXPENSIVE, the RAREST wines in existence. Rodenstock got away with his blatant sleight of hand because no one wanted h...more
Jan 19, 2010
MentorPublicLibrary
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Shelves:
general-nonfiction,
steve-h
This is the story of the murky world of antique wine collectors. It kicks of with the auction of a bottle supposedly owned by Thomas Jefferson, sold to the Forbes publishing company, for a record shattering $156,000. Hardy Rodenstock, expert wine seller, claims to have found it in a Paris cellar that was part of a home being torn down, but refuses to give any details beyond that. Questions arise as to the bottles authenticity, and to the authenticity of many other bottles Rodenstock has sold. Th...more
So I recently spent a few days in the hospital with literally nothing to do so I packed oodles and oodle of books (I had a bag just for my books) because I am currently too poor to purchase a Kindle. Barnes and Noble had recently had a Summer Reads "Buy Two, Get One Free" Sale and I found this book's blurb intriguing...I should have picked something else to buy...at least I keep telling myself it was the "free" book so I didn't pay any money for it. It wasn't a terrible book...if you love wine b...more
Interesting book overall, does a great job describing the narrative while jumping into different areas of wine knowledge. It appears that it was written out of order, as some of the flow gets a bit rocky (at one point, the exact same story of an event of a bottle breaking is told from two different view points, but nothing is addressed as to it being the same event, the reader has to figure it out). Some of the quoted material came across as bizarrely placed within the context - a very random qu...more
I can't quite remember what made me want to read this book in the first place, but I have a feeling NPR was to blame. I'm not a wine aficionado; most of my interest in wine can be summed up with two questions "Does it taste good when I drink it?" and "How much can I consume without making an ass of myself?" I can't quite recall the last time I drank a French wine, or if in fact, I've had one at all. My tastes tend to run to California and New York whites, of the under $14 varieties. So clearly,...more
Though I rarely spend more than $15 on a bottle of wine (which would be complete and utter swill to these guys), I really enjoyed this look into the world of rare and old wines. The story centers around a cache of bottles found somewhere (exact origins are rather vague) in Europe that have the initials Th.J on them. Eureka! Bottles owned by Thomas Jefferson. Doubt is almost immediately raised, and yet, no one can prove definitively one way or the other, and it seems that folks are attracted more...more
this book was good good good! I learned so much about the wine world, vintage wines and chateaux, all sorts of cool stuff. If you are interested in wine culture, it's great for that. The drama and tension in this book built nicely too. As we go deeper and deeper into the story of the Jefferson bottles, more and more red flags are thrown up and once it becomes obvious that the bottles are fake, and who is behind the fakes, there's the added suspense of when and how they will catch the guy. The bo...more
Whether it's fine art, obscure collectables, or old wine, none hold any intrinsic value. Nothing about Van Gough's "Starry Night" would suggest it's worth millions of dollars...it's composed of about $100 of materials that you could buy at any art supply shop, and those materials have already been used. A Lafitte claret, what was once mere table wine, now sells for $975 (USD) a bottle. How can we explain this exuberant spending and extrinsic worth...Christie's auction house is a good place to be...more
This is a great little non-fiction mystery. It tells the story of a flamboyant, gregarious wine dealer who claimed to have purchased a cache of old wine, found in a walled up cellar in Paris. The bottles dated from the 1780s and were etched with the initials Th.J. One sold for 150 thousand dollars, on the assumption that it once belonged to Thomas Jefferson. But then, as the years go on, this wine dealer finds more and more old wine, incredibly old and rare bottles. How is this guy finding all t...more
I had only medium expectations for this book, and for the most part that was right on target. Moderately interesting, especially for someone like me who has a passing knowledge of French wine and some of the more famous chateaus. Gets a little dry at times.
Unfortunately, I'm considering ranking this two stars -- if I could rank the ending separately, I would -- because it was such a letdown at the end. I had read reviews that the ending seemed rushed, but this was much worse than I had imagined...more
Unfortunately, I'm considering ranking this two stars -- if I could rank the ending separately, I would -- because it was such a letdown at the end. I had read reviews that the ending seemed rushed, but this was much worse than I had imagined...more
I read this book on the recommendation of a friend (thanks, Pete!). Even if you're not a fan of wine, this is a fascinating and seriously page-turning read. I'd especially recommend it to fans of the show "White Collar," as some of what goes on in here has been obliquely referenced by that show. It's as much a suspenseful crime/mystery novel as it is a book about wine. Both the people and the wines that Wallace writes about are larger than life.
Every thing that Wallace puts in the book is both n...more
Every thing that Wallace puts in the book is both n...more
The tale of the "most expensive bottle of wine ever sold" (at the time) turns out to be more intriguing than it first may seem. The bottle, and a number that followed it, supposedly belonged to Thomas Jefferson and dated to the late 18th century. However, this provenance was always opaque, and for some reason no one really cared or inquired too deeply about it (did they want to believe in the fantasy of 200-year-old wine regardless of the truth?). Turns out it's 99.99% likely they were elaborate...more
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In 1985, I was 4 years old, and completely unaware of a most interesting event that took place on the world's stage - the most expensive bottle of wine ever sold at a Christie's auction for over $150,000. The bottle was a 1787 Chateau Lafite, a wine with a long history of elegance. This particular bottle also carried an engraving, "Th.J", exciting the world of oenophiles because of it's provenance from Thomas Jefferson's cellars. Yet almost before the hammer dropped, the questions started. Did t...more
Very interesting non fiction book on wine and the collectors and auctioneers who promote aged wine. Several bottles of red Bordeaux are reportedly found in an undisclosed location in France, allegedly belonging to Thomas Jefferson. Kip Forbes pays 165,000 for the bottle. Then the mystery begins when other bottles also purported to be from Jefferson's collection comeuppance for auction. We're they fakes? Interesting history of wine, collecting, and how efforts were made to try to authenticate the...more
This book could have been really, really good. The story was very captivating, the characters involved were super-interesting, and I learned a ton about rare wines and history. However, the book was very poorly written. It was confusing. It didn't occur in a time order that made any sense. Facts were shoveled on top of each other in ways that completely prevented you from understanding them. The author left on tangents that had little to do with the main plot line, and then when offering an answ...more
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This book proved to me several things I've always believed....one, that nobody should ever take wine too seriously. Two, people can be fooled into believing almost anything. Three, people that take wine too seriously take themselves too seriously and that's the problem. Anyway, a good read about an amazing con, wine collecting and the "inner" workings of elite wine-tasting. Some people just have too much money for their own good. Easy to read and intriguing. It will remind you to buy wine that Y...more
Since I love wine and I love history, a book about wine and history seemed like a smart choice. Boy, was I correct. Benjamin Wallace spent years researching the fascinating world of high priced auction wines, the kind I've only read about, and will never have a chance to taste. A 1900 Margaux, an 1847 a pre-phylloxera (vine destroying insect) Bordeaux, an 1874 Ausone, all of which are featured in this book but don't measure up to the intrigue surrounding the most famous bottle of wine in the wor...more
The disappointing think about this book is that the story isn't finished. Litigation is ongoing, and the book ends rather abruptly. Also, the author skips around chronologically fairly liberally, presumably to enhance the narrative flow, but sometimes it feels disjointed or just doesn't make sense. Despite these complaints, this book is an engrossing read. As an amateur wine enthusiast, the subject matter was interesting to me and the character sketches were engaging. It also proved a great vali...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall, enjoyable. | 2 | 25 | Apr 26, 2009 10:05am |
Benjamin Wallace has written for GQ, Details, Food & Wine, Salon, and The Washington Post. He grew up in Washington, DC, and graduated from Georgetown University. From 1990 to 1992, he lived in the Czech Republic and Hungary, teaching English, proofreading diplomatic documents at the Czechoslovak Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and writing for such newspapers as The Prague Post, The Budapest Post...more
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“As a young man he seemed to pine for a bygone world of aristocrats. [In his twenties, he] took to wearing Edwardian three-piece suits with a pocket watch and chain.
[discussing Kip Forbes]”
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[discussing Kip Forbes]”
