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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.” —BusinessWeek
The Billionaire’s Vinegar tells the true story of a 1787 Château Lafite Bordeaux—supposedly owned by Thomas Jefferson—that sold for $156,000 at auction and of the eccentrics whose lives inters...more
The Billionaire’s Vinegar tells the true story of a 1787 Château Lafite Bordeaux—supposedly owned by Thomas Jefferson—that sold for $156,000 at auction and of the eccentrics whose lives inters...more
Paperback, 336 pages
Published
April 14th 2009
by Three Rivers Press
(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 i...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 i...more
I'm more a beer-and-shot guy, so my love of this book took me completely by surprise. The story starts with the auction of a $170,000 bottle of wine --a 1787 Laffite (the right vintage, the right chateaux) that had supposedly been owned by Thomas Jefferson-- and effortlessly takes the reader through a long trail of fascinating subjects: Jefferson's life in France; the science of wine, the bacchanalian proclivities of the ultra-rich (and oft-despicable) wine collectors; mini-histories of the high...more
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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.
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 ...more
I don't know what it is, but I love books about wine. I honestly can't explain it, but the mix of history, personalities and the fruit of the vine is always something I can get into.
And the first third of the book did not disappoint! It was fantastic! But then... it lost it's zeal.
The story starts off with some huge auctions for some bottles of wine, unearthed in a forgotten cellar and reportedly to have been owned by Thomas Jefferson when he was assigned to work in Paris. The story picks up as ...more
And the first third of the book did not disappoint! It was fantastic! But then... it lost it's zeal.
The story starts off with some huge auctions for some bottles of wine, unearthed in a forgotten cellar and reportedly to have been owned by Thomas Jefferson when he was assigned to work in Paris. The story picks up as ...more
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
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 purchase...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 u...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 u...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
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. ...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....more
Meh.
This book was like an unsuspenseful version of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. There's the moderately nefarious (is he LYING?!) main character. There's the "aren't they quirky?" supporting cast (oh, that crazy old British winehound, who rides his bicycle to work every day! what a kook!). And then there's the almost-intrepid reporter, who doesn't so much live amongst his tribe in good anthropological fashion, but rather occasionally sponges a nice afternoon ...more
This book was like an unsuspenseful version of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. There's the moderately nefarious (is he LYING?!) main character. There's the "aren't they quirky?" supporting cast (oh, that crazy old British winehound, who rides his bicycle to work every day! what a kook!). And then there's the almost-intrepid reporter, who doesn't so much live amongst his tribe in good anthropological fashion, but rather occasionally sponges a nice afternoon ...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 var...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
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 tha...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 tha...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...more
Every thing that Wallace puts...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 s...more
"The Billionaire's Vinegar" is a wonderful work of narrative non-fiction, one that I was forced to like the more I thought about it. Rather than "describing" or "explaining," it expresses in its form, meaning, and spirit the very nature of its subject beyond what can be communicated with ordinary language alone -- the definition of art.
The book is more a collection of biographies, assembled in such a way that they carry the story forward from genesis to...more
The book is more a collection of biographies, assembled in such a way that they carry the story forward from genesis to...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 a...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...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 ...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...more
What a fun read. I didn't know much about the central characters before I dived into this nonfiction book, so each page was a surprise. I also learned an enormous amount about wines, how they age, and which brands are the most hoity-toity; I could probably pretend to be a terrible snob now. Unfortunately, several years ago I took a vacation that included several visits to wineries and sadly determined that although I can (sort of) tell the difference between a 10 dollar wine and an 80 dollar one...more
Wallace is a talented writer, but his subjects tended to be so self-absorbed and arrogant that it was hard to find sympathy for anyone. It's an intriguing mystery: is the world's most expensive bottle of wine, an original Thomas Jefferson Chateau Lafite, a fake? It's a detailed study of the wine-collecting world, if you're into that sort of thing. And it's a tongue-in-cheek portrayal of a decadent era, with nasty characters being nasty to each other. But unless you're a particular fan of cat...more
This was a fascinating book about one of the greatest all time wine controversies. The story centered around the discovery of some missing bottles of wine alleged to belong to Thomas Jefferson. The real life characters were enjoyable and angering all at the same time. The book detailed the chronicles of these bottles of wine and offered much detail into the wine industry as a whole. It was actually a bit more detail than I personally cared for as I would have been happy had the author only p...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall, enjoyable. | 2 | 21 | Apr 26, 2009 10:05am |
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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, an...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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