<![CDATA[Billionaire's Vinegar]]>

false <![CDATA[Billionaire's Vinegar]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1256225935m/7028217.jpg 2706168 4 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. 2731652 13 5 2008 The Billionaire's Vinegar: The Mystery of the World's Most Expensive Bottle of Wine total:669|5:85|4:225|3:265|2:73|1:21| 669 2287 1355 251 5 4 false false Sat Jul 26 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Jun 26 18:29:09 -0700 2008 Sat Jul 26 23:53:20 -0700 2008 ...more...]]> 4 2 false false Wed Jul 09 13:31:21 -0700 2008 Wed Jul 09 13:44:58 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 1 false true Mon Nov 24 22:43:22 -0800 2008 Mon Nov 24 23:12:10 -0800 2008
On a broader stage, I think it serves as a parable of how the current economy meltdown di...more...]]> 3 1 false false Sat Nov 28 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Thu Nov 19 14:10:02 -0800 2009 Sat Nov 28 16:42:36 -0800 2009 more...]]> 3 2 false false Fri May 09 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Apr 21 16:52:14 -0700 2008 Fri May 09 02:32:06 -0700 2008 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 inform...more...]]> 0 0 false false Thu Feb 05 09:58:51 -0800 2009 Thu Feb 05 09:58:51 -0800 2009 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 Euro...

more...]]> 2 0 false false Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 16 06:48:54 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 16 07:32:32 -0700 2009 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 ...more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Nov 19 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Nov 15 14:57:28 -0800 2009 Thu Nov 19 17:19:16 -0800 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Jul 01 08:00:19 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 01 08:09:32 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Apr 12 18:56:42 -0700 2009 Sun May 10 10:20:44 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 2 false false Tue Nov 04 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Nov 26 15:12:24 -0800 2008 Wed Nov 26 15:20:34 -0800 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Jan 13 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue Jan 13 17:27:35 -0800 2009 Tue Jan 13 17:37:37 -0800 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 06 17:12:53 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 06 17:36:55 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 1 false false Mon Jul 13 10:42:51 -0700 2009 Mon Jul 13 10:43:08 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Sat Jan 17 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Mon Jan 12 17:16:15 -0800 2009 Sun Jan 18 11:53:03 -0800 2009 1
So why did I bother reading it? Because I was intrigued by the book jacket - that it was "the mystery of the world's most expensive bottle of wine". Only really, it's about 10% mystery and 9...more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Dec 28 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 22 11:29:23 -0800 2008 Sun Dec 28 12:39:00 -0800 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Fri Jun 12 12:22:03 -0700 2009 Fri May 08 18:31:02 -0700 2009 Fri Jun 12 12:22:03 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Aug 24 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 03 18:48:20 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 26 16:48:55 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Jul 06 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Jul 07 14:58:35 -0700 2009 Tue Jul 07 15:02:18 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Jul 11 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu May 28 23:45:58 -0700 2009 Sat Jul 11 15:22:21 -0700 2009 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/1?book_id=7028217 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/3?book_id=7028217 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/2?book_id=7028217 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=7028217 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/4?book_id=7028217 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/5?book_id=7028217 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/6?book_id=7028217 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/7?book_id=7028217 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/9?book_id=7028217 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/10?book_id=7028217